


Beginings

by Goten_Son_Ten



Series: The World of Vlad Phantom and Dan Plasmius [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: (Role Reversal), Alternate Universe, And Dan is the Villain, And Focuses on Vlad, Daniel is a Billionaire, Future Pompous Pep, Future Romance, Future lemon, M/M, This is the first of a series, Vlad and Jack and Maddie are Team Phantom, Vlad is in College, Where Vlad is the Hero
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-02 05:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12720522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goten_Son_Ten/pseuds/Goten_Son_Ten
Summary: What if the roles were reversed?This in an AU story where Vlad Ivanov (college student) is the hero and Dan Masters (16 year old billionaire) is the evil villain. In this universe we find Earth more knowledgeable about ghosts, Team Phantom is Vlad, Maddie, and Jack, while Dan Plasmius has plans to take over both the human world and the ghost zone. But, can Vlad change Dan’s mind and break through his stone heart? This story will have lemon later in future series.





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this story came from a picture by HazuNeutral from Deviantart, where Vlad’s ghost form and Danny’s were switched. While the pictures I post here are of my own creation and a bit different, the inspiration came from their initial drawing, so credit goes to HazuNeutral! ^ ^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Important*
> 
> The whole story will be eventual Pompous Pep (Vlad x Danny), but this is the first of a series and will focus on the characters Vlad, Jack, and Maddie (especially focused on Vlad), as well as shaping the world of this story. Dan and Vlad's relationship will come later. :)

*Cover Image for the Story. By me. :) *

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They said it didn’t exist. 

Even the people who believed in ghosts thought it was crazy.

-“A Ghost dimension parallel to ours? You’ve been drinking too much coffee.” - “Everyone knows specters come from this world, they don’t come from some fantasy place.” - “Look at these losers. Believing in an a magical ghost land!”

But doubts from peers, scientists, professors, or even sponsors couldn’t deter the 3 young college students from working on, what they believed, to be the next great discovery of man.

Another dimension.

‘Unknown phenomena’, as the media had named it, had been occurring more frequently all around the world.

Places seemed to take on a life of their own, people acting aggressive and way out of their character only to return to normal afterwards, reports of flying objects and strange voices, manifestations of the newly discovered odd green goo in strange locations, sightings of ‘strangely looking’ people, people reporting seeing odd creatures that seemed translucent…

Even with the ever increasing reports and sightings, many were still hesitant to believe the truth behind the accusations and occurrences.

The media would always would spin it. Getting pundits to elaborate in complicated terms on how this is just some sickness causing some people to hallucinate. That it was not real. 

But, others knew the truth.

It was ghosts.

The ‘unknown phenomena’ had become so frequent, that a handful of corporations had sponsored paranormal research in some universities, as long as certain guidelines were met:

The paranormal research had to focus on translucent specters as the source of the study, not any other paranormal beings.

All research, study, findings, data, and process are to be recorded and only viewed by certified company personnel. It is not to be shared with the public.

The materials for study and experimentation had to be approved and distributed by the company sponsor.

Every material used for study and experimentation is the property of the company sponsor and is in no way owned by the university or the scientists conducting the experiment. 

Any unauthorized use of equipment will result in immediate termination and legal action.

All strange phenomena involving the use of equipment must be immediately reported, regardless of how insignificant.

Currently, there are only 4 universities backed by corporations interested in the field of paranormal studies.

Amity University was one of them.

Many people interested in what was going on, young and old, flocked to these universities. Either wanting to become students or as eye witnesses of these occurrences to further study and to understand what had happened to them.

At this particular university, 3 students from the paranormal department worked on a unique device in one of the university labs. One tailored for paranormal research and built by the company sponsor.

It had taken a little over a year to gain acceptance of their project. There were many meetings with the sponsoring corporation that ended the same way; rejection.

Even those who considered the possibility that there might be another dimension, specifically a ghost dimension, believed that the focus of the research they should fund should be the capture or elimination of the ghosts. Not to find where they live.

But the three had persisted with their idea.

There was really no known way to kill a ghost. And capturing one was nigh impossible, much less containing it indefinitely.

So, if they had the means to open the gateway to their dimension, they could help the ghosts to return to their home and leave this world.

After a long battle to achieve grants and permissions, finally someone in the company decided to green light the project. 

The three close friends embraced each other tightly, tears gathering in their eyes. Unable to believe that they had been finally granted a go on their dream project. 

Little did they know, their ‘dream project’ would forever change their understanding of ghosts, the ‘unknown phenomena’, and would forever change their lives.

Especially for one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ........................................................................................................................................................................
> 
> Just a quick introduction to the basic world I am trying to create. Character scenes start up next chapter! ^ ^
> 
> ........................................................................................................................................................................


	2. The Pain of Death

It burned.

Burned like hell.

His eyes felt as though they had been doused with pure chlorine.

And yet,

Even though he should be blind with pain, there was still one color that continued to come through.

Only one.

Green.

All kinds of neon green swirled through his vision, dancing like water.

The burning sensation in his eyes intensified. Now it felt like acid.

And it was getting worse.

Now, his face also burned painfully, the sensation only increasing.

He wanted to scream.

He wanted to cry for help. For someone or something to make it stop.

But he couldn’t.

And the burning sensation began to travel downward, moving straight to his neck.

The fire creeping through skin. Rolling off like molten lava.

It was getting deeper. Entering the bloodstream.

Searing and flaming through the bloodstream. 

But, it wasn’t fire.

It was frostbitten cold.

So cold, the skin felt like it had been exposed to acid. Veins a flame.

The pain traveled throughout. Reaching, reaching further. Deeper.

Heart pounding wild. Trying to send much needed warm blood through the rest of the cooling body. 

The sensation of thousands of needles met the edge of the burning pain as his warm blood tried to fight against the burning, numbing cold that inched ever closer to his beating heart.

The pressure building. Constricting the pumping muscle tighter and tighter. 

The heart responding by pulsing faster, trying desperately to break free.

Until the all consuming ice froze the heart.

Burning pain reaching critical. Every cell giving one last spark of light in defiance, despite the pain.

Trying to survive.

Then, the skin exploded.

“AAaaaahhhhhhHHHHHH!”

Vlad shot up screaming in the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life. 

Breathing heavily, he sat still, very much disoriented. The pain he had felt not a second ago gone without a trace.

It was bright, hard to see.

And damn… his face itched like hell...

Attempting to shield the light from his sensitive, blurry sight, (and scratch that itch) he tried to lift his hands to his face.

Only to fail. Unable to even raise his arms to his chest.

He tried again. This time noticing that his efforts were being foiled by restraints. Both his hands were tied down with little movement. 

He squinted his eyes as he tried to orient himself. 

Where was he?

How did he get there?

His mind noted that there was a beeping noise somewhere near, and distant familiar voices. There were changes in the brightness on the intense light, as though someone was shifting around in front of the intense light.

He raised his head towards the blurry figure, trying to make it out. It was big.

The voice became more clearer.

Big, booming, and concerned.

He would recognize that voice anywhere.

The familiar voice that came from the most kind hearted man he knew.

“...J-Ja-” *cough cough, cough* He was hit with an uncontrollable cough. His voice was scrapped, worn. There was a burning pain in his throat when he had tried to speak. 

His voice certainly wanted to kill him for trying to say something.

And his head too. The force of his coughing spasm raking his body made his brain feel like it was rattling in his skull.

Now he could hear other voices, the sounds becoming clearer now. They were trying to speak to him.

His eyes were adjusting faster too. He could now make out people in white around him. 

One in particular was by his side. Saying something.

“..o...kno...wh..a.e?”

He blinked in confusion as he felt a warm hand settle on his forehead. Ahh… it felt nice against his cold skin…

The figures were now much clearer. To the point where he could tell that they were dressed like scientists in white lab coats.

Actually…

Not lab scientists.

He noted as he could make out the outfit worn by what appeared to be a woman.

Doctors.

Was he in a hospital?

Why??

The pain in his head doubled in intensity and he began to shake, gritting his teeth as the pain only intensified almost without end. 

He barely could tell the distant beeping increasing in speed and the hurried sounds of voices as darkness consumed him once more.

………………………….

As Vlad woke from his sleep, the first thing he realized in his haze was the beeping sound of a heart monitor.

Confusion entered his sleepy haze. ‘Why in the world would we have a heart monitor in the paranormal equipment lab??’

It really didn’t make sense. Ghosts did not have heartbeats…

Then, he realized something. He had fallen asleep in the lab.

Again.

‘Snickerdoodles! I better get up quickly before Professor Crane catches me again!’

Strangely, the plan to simply wake up was easier said than done…

As he tried to focus on fully awakening, he noticed even more unusual things. It felt like he was laying down, which by all intents and purposes should not be possible, as there is no bed in the lab. His head throbbed like there was a drummer in his head, feeling he had the worst hangover in his life. And his face, it itched… A lot...

Needing to scratch that itch, and hold his head to ease the pain, he tried lifting his hands to his face, but his hands barely lifted at all, feeling as though there was something restraining his wrists to whatever he was laying on... 

Immediately his lucidity hit him hard and he bolted upwards in a panic, eyes wide.

He looked madly around the room, blinking as his eyes adjusted to being awake once more. Which surprisingly was taking longer than what it should have.

“Vlad! Vlad, dear, you have to relax…”

Maddie was suddenly there beside him, a gentle hand on his chest making sure that he didn’t move further, trying to calm him from his sudden panic.

He snapped his attention to her, and could see her fairly well. He was about to ask why there was a bed in the lab, but paused, frowning. Noticing that she was not in her lab coat inside the lab (One of the many rules everyone was to follow). Instead she wore her casual purple one sleeved shirt and casual blue jeans. Her frizzy hair was a bit disorderly, but he found that it gave her a slightly wild look. Untamable, like fire.

She looked divine.

Shaking his head, he distracted himself from such thoughts, focussing instead on the fact that she had broken the rules, which was very strange for the careful ginger. He was about to scold her for her unusual carelessness, saying that Jack’s rubbing off too much on her, when he noticed the wall in his peripheral vision. It was not the color of the lab walls…

Sudden realization hit him at last.

They were not in the University’s Paranormal Investigation Lab...

He blinked in confusion as he glanced around the room. There were a couple chairs, a shelf, many cabinets and drawers, a small sinc, an electronic heart monitor beside him, other electronics he did not recognize.

They were in a hospital.

“I’ve got cupcakes from the vending machine! No chocolate, but-” The booming voice that was Jack’s was cut off abruptly as the large man entered the room, noticing that Vlad was awake.

The cupcakes fell to the floor, forgotten as the big man rushed to the side of the hospital bed. “V-Man! Finally awake sleepy head!”

Vlad frowned a little. While Jack sounded like he was joking around, he knew the big guy. Could see the clear worry etched in those blue eyes and hear the normal joking voice of the man toned down a bit.

There was little that could kill Jack’s jolly mood. But when his mood was off, it was usually something very serious…

Hell, Jack even looked messier than usual. His hair more out of place, his clothes even more wrinkled, his eyes looked like he hadn’t slept well.

Actually, Maddy’s Amethyst eyes looked just as tired.

What in the name of cheddar cheese is going on!

Just then, a man in a white lab coat entered the room, and his friends parted so the man could take their place beside the bed.

“Hello Vladimir. I am Doctor Smith.” The doctor pressed a hand on his chest so he would lay back down on the hospital bed. “How are we feeling today?”

Vlad blinked in slight confusion. He felt fine! Why was he even here??

Well, maybe his face itched terribly, but otherwise totally fine!

“I feel great.”

The doctor smiled at him and moved to remove the restraints on his wrist. “That is splendid news.” Then grabbed one of his wrists, taking the pulse while glancing at a wach. Do you feel any kind of discomfort?”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the worried glances from his two friends. He frowned at them.

Worry warts.

Though, he was flattered to have two close friends who cared deeply for him.

They had been inseparable since they had started college. Back nearly 4 years ago, there was not so much hype about the ‘Unknown Phenomena’ (i.e. Ghosts), so the paranormal field had been quite small, only spanning a few random classes and by no means had the financial support of any corporation.

It was in the first paranormal class in his freshman year did he meet the other two.

He hated, HATED working in a team. Especially in a class were nearly all students took the class because they thought it would be an easy grade or thought it would be a laugh.

In fact, Vlad thought he was the only one who took it seriously.

Until he was paired with Jack and Maddie for the midterm assignment, which was 30% of the whole class grade.

He was even more disappointed when he saw what Jack and Maddie looked like.

Jack was huge. Slightly muscular and thick arms that could easily knock you out cold. Midnings hair and blue eyes made him look slightly charming.

He thought ‘Great. The brainless jock…’

Maddie. Maddie had beautiful hair which she kept nicely curled. Wore attire that hugged her slender curves and shining beautiful amethyst eyes.

‘Great. The popular diva…’

The worst type of people to be stuck with during an important assignment.

Well, it could be worse. He could have been stuck with the star quarterback who always loved to bully him, but that self-righteous yule log would never be caught dead in one of these classes.

Most likely Jack had lost a bet and had to take this course.

Atleast, thats what he believed from his first impression.

His first impression was erased quite quickly when the big ‘jock’ gave him a big warm smile and a pat on the back that almost sent him face first on the floor. But it wasn’t a mean gesture, and that was very surprising from someone as big as him.

In fact, the big guy acted very friendly towards a nobody like him. Jack chattered away like they had been best pals as walked to a spare table to start working on their team assignment. Sitting at the table, while Jack seemed like a talker, Maddie seemed anything but. She just sat beside them on the table and did not say a word. He decided to ignore her as he guessed that her silence was because of her displeasure of being paired up with a nobody like him and her dislike of the course in general.

His disinterest in Maddie turned into slight curiosity at the continued silence she displayed. 

By now, he had expected her to make some snide remark about the way he dressed, his hair, or something. The other divas in the school did it all the time.

But she didn’t. She just sat in her chair quietly gazing at some book she held in her lap.

At first, he thought she was maybe reading some romance novel or some sort of girly magazine as she quietly did her own thing at the small group table.

But curiosity got the best of him, and he got up to ‘sharpen his pencil’ and snuck a glanced at her reading material. 

Only to be shocked that she was reading an advanced text on spector detection mechanics!

She glared disdainfully his way, taking his shocked reaction to be mocking her. He quickly recovered and started speaking to her about the book, since he had already read it himself.

Those amethyst eyes had turned friendly, then filled with excitement as they spoke to each other with enthusiasm. Discussing feverously about the mechanics of analyzing ghosts.

Both him and Maddie were surprised and impressed when Jack joined in on the conversation, talking excitedly about different types of spector's that could be detected with the type of sensors Maddie and him were discussing, showing his expertise in the details about said supernatural creatures.

They had been close ever since.

They helped each other, they spend lots of time together, they worked on different projects outside of class assignments together, and they worried about each other. 

Even if that worry wasn’t warranted, which now it certainly wasn’t.

He sighed. “I have a slight itch on my face, but that is all.”

He had expected his comment to make his two friends feel better. After all, it was just an itch, right?

But Jack and Maddie winced at his comment. Like he had said something she shouldn’t have.

That itch was starting to bug him even more.

He was raising his arm to his face when the doctor stopped him. “Try not to touch your face for now, Vladimir.”

The doctor having blocked his hand also popped another question into his mind. “Why were my hands tied?”

Jack and Maddie looked around the room, avoiding looking at him.

He felt anxiousness in his gut. ‘What is going on with them??’

The doctor answered him calmly. “While you were unconscious, you would rub the irritation on your face, causing more damage to your sensitive skin.”

Vlad raised his brow. “Damage??”

“Vladimir, what is the last thing you recall?”

Vlad stopped for a moment to think.

He was in the lab, with Maddie and Jack. They were working for hours on the proto-portal, hoping that soon they would be able to finally activate it for the first time to see if it worked. He was tired, but full of pent up excitement. They were so close.

“We were in the University lab. Working on a project… then, I’m here...”

The doctor sighted. Then turned towards a nurse that stood in the hallway and gestured towards her.

Nodding, the nurse walked in the room and grabbed a mirror.

“Vladimir, there was a slight, accident...” While the doctor had a trained, normal air about him, the nurse as she approached had a clearly forced smile plastered on her face.

Vlad turned to look at Maddie and saw that her Amethyst eyes were filling with tears, clear with worry and sorrow. Her hand pressed to her lips and body stiff.

His breath sped up, his anxiousness rising further.

Turning his gaze, he looked at Jack, and his anxiousness turned into internal panic.

Jack’s eyes were wide with fear, biting his lower lip, shifting in his seat wringing and un-wringing his large hands. Nervousness he had never seen in the happy, go-lucky man.

“W-What, what is going on??” He asked full of trepidation.

The doctor looked straight into his eyes. “Vladimir, this might look bad now, but it will improve. But there will be… some scarring.”

The doctor informed and stood back, letting the nurse hand him the hand mirror.

Vlad held the mirror apprehensively as the nurse stood back. Fear building based on the reactions of those around him.

Did he really want to know??

He gulped nervously, slowly raising the mirror.

To finally see his reflection.

His body began to shake uncontrollably at what he saw.

It couldn’t be his face! It couldn’t be real!!!

The mirror fell from his hands, landing on his lap as he raised his hands to cover his face in shame, fear, and anguish.


	3. The Dark Whispers

A lone figure lay silently beneath the white sheets on a thin, uncomfortable mattress of a hospital bed.

The room was dark.

The sole window in the small room was covered by the sterile white curtain, blocking out all bright, cheery rays of sunlight. The artificial light that could be illuminating the confines of the room was turned off, as well as the small tv hooked up to the wall, leaving the sole source of light emanating from the mechanical blinking of lights from the instruments hooked up to the room.

There was not even the light of a heart monitor to light the room.

A few days ago, Vlad had been moved to the recovery wing of the hospital, no longer unconscious and no longer having the fear of contamination or fear of ecto-acne being contagious.

The room he was in now was smaller than the initial one he had first woken up in, a room made for one patient instead of two.

Here, Vlad had the discretion to keep the light on or off as he pleased, as long as he was alone.

And, he would always keep it off.

He didn’t want anyone to see his face.

Even if the doctors and nurses who entered the room turned it right back on, defeating the purpose of keeping it off in the first place, he still turned it right back off once they left.

It made him feel slightly better.

With the light off, he could fool himself into believing that no one would ever see him again. That the darkness in the room was irreplaceable, having consumed all possible light.

He didn’t want anyone to see him like this.

A monster.

19… he had 19 ungodly lumps spread all over his face…

He had counted every one of them in the bathroom mirror

Over, and over again...

Not only did those wart sized protrusions of ecto-acne disfigured his face, but they would randomly ooze slimy, green puss, even if he did not rub his face to alleviate the insatiable itch that medication could not deter...

To top it all off, most of his face and his neck was recovering from second degree burns, causing the skin to blister in certain parts, undoubtedly will lead to nasty scarring once healed.

If the pain and irritation constantly on his face was not a bad reminder enough of his horrendous situation, the constant sounds that plagued him were.

While the room had no heart monitor, there were certainly other electronics inside the small room that made ample noise. No beeping, no chiming. They were supposed to be silent devices, the nurses had assured him. 

But to him, they were far from silent.

The constant hissing and buzzing of whirring processors grated his sanity. A constant thrum of sound that even earplugs could not fully eliminate.

And that infernal wall clock…

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*....

On and on it went. Ticking away without missing a meticulously timed beat. 

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*....

It was driving him mad…

He had pleaded with the staff to remove the horrendous thing. 

But they refused, stating that he needed to overcome what they termed ‘psychological noise sensitivity’, which was essentially stating that what he was hearing was more in his head than rooted in reality.

At first, he had denied it. Had argued feverishly that what he was hearing was not his mind making it up.

But now, he had his doubts.

Now, he could hear, or thought he could hear, steps outside his door. 

It was worse during the day. Footsteps passing by his door at random times. 

Heavy footsteps. Light footsteps. Footsteps accompanied by the screeching of wheels as it rolled past, almost as bad as nails on chalk. 

Footsteps along with voices. Female, male. Some which he could swear belonged to some of the hospital staff that sometimes entered his room, some he could not recognize.

Sounds as if the door was wide open. Not a thing to impede the vibration of sound entering his ears.

But

The door was closed.

It should be blocking all of the sounds he hears! At the very least, it should not be sounding like the door was wide open!

Clenching his teeth hard, he squeezed the palms of his hands over his ears, trying desperately to block out all the noises that just wouldn’t give him a moment’s rest.

The sounds still prevailed…

…………………………………..

He wished for solitude.

To curl up in a tight ball, and be left to rot in his isolation and misery. To block out all of those pitying glances that came his way, the slight initial shock of glancing in his direction, the fake smiles attempting to cover their horrified emotions…

But segregation from humanity was far from what he received…

Not only were there doctors and nurses constantly making their unwanted presence in his company to check up on his condition, provide him with meals, and give him medication, there were also the scientists that stopped by.

Many of them.

He was the first human in recorded scientific history to have the ecto-acne condition. Not only were the scientist researching a way to get rid of his condition, but they were also taking advantage of it in the meantime. 

He was prodded, injected, cut, photographed, scanned, and recorded. All for the sake of examining all that was possible about the effects of ecto-acne.

Regardless of their reassurance that they are looking for a cure, somehow, it felt that they were far more concerned with keeping him that way. 

Of course, it could just be his imagination. Though, how they treated him did not ease his fears either.

The scientists that entered his room had a superiority gaze to them, looking at him like he was some sort of dissected frog with no human emotion whatsoever.

It was worse when they came in in a pair or trio. As they studied his condition, they would refer to him as ‘the patient’. Acting more like he was not there and not even human…

And far worse when they came with young college students interested in paranormal or medical degrees on a class field trip...

His shy, introverted demeanor kept him from trying to start a conversation with them. To remind them he was a person, not a thing.

No one ever gave him a progress report on their search for a cure. When he would ask, they would say that ‘they’re working on it’ and went back to ignoring him.

The scientists would come at any hour, morning, day, or night. It didn’t seem to matter to them that Vlad wanted at least some advanced notice before they decided to intrude on his personal privacy.

While, as a fellow scientist, he could understand the enthusiasm and eagerness of this new ghostly related condition, he would never stoop to the level that they did. He never treated a person he interviewed who had contact with the supernatural with anything but respect, even if he believed the person to be outright lying. 

No, the way they insisted on proceeding was disturbing. There was really no regard for him at all.

And he had to put up with it.

Because, if he didn’t, the company sponsor of the university’s paranormal department would not pay for all of the hospital treatment. 

Not only did they pay for his expensive hospital room and stay, they also paid for the medication provided: the painkillers, the antibiotics, vitamin supplements, the experimental drugs meant to reduce the ecto-goo that resided in his body…

They paid everything. The sheer amount of cost far beyond anything that he could ever afford.

Yes, when he had protested the way they treated him, like a lab animal instead of a human being, the manager in charge of his situation actually threatened to pull the funding.

Along with the termination of his grants and scholarships, the only thing that made it possible to afford college at all.

Vlad knew then and there, that he had no choice but to go with it.

The threat should not have been possible, hell, it wasn’t even legal!

But, The AXIOM corporation was large, it’s power and influence well known all throughout the world, rivaled only by the Masters Corporation, which was nearly double it’s size in power and influence.

They would easily be able to destroy a nobody like him…

So, he acquiesced to all of the demeaning experimentation they did on him. Sat there as a group of college students looked at him like he was some sort of lab rat as the leading scientist of the group explained his condition, referring to him in the third person like he was not even there. Swallowed his shame as scientists peered closely at his disfigured face, turning and moving as he was instructed, fighting back the tears of humiliation as he was the center of intense gaze.

A look that made him feel like trash…

………………………………………...

He laid on his side, inside that dark, dreary room.

Alone.

His homework, brought to him by his two best friends, lay forgotten on the small desk beside his bed.

What was the point?

Did he really care to try and continue his education in the paranormal department, even if it was his main passion and drive in life?

The ecto-acne had not reduced one bit in the time he had been stuck in this god-forsaken place. His burns still stung his face and his face was still plagued with the mixture of pain and irritation. Always torn between rubbing the itch and showing restraint due to the pain and further damage the action would cause.

Did it even matter that satisfying the itch would cause more damage to his already disfigured face?

His body lay immobile as lidded eyes stared absentmindedly at the plain, dreary wall.

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*...

The time passed him by, though he only knew what date it was because the last scientist to enter his room earlier that day had verbally recorded it in his video entry…

*Screech, Screech, Screech, Screech*

He closed his eyes tightly as the sounds of the outside of his room continued, the screeching sound of wheels along with footsteps increasing in intensity, then decreasing as the sound moved farther away.

Later, more footsteps.

Fortunately, none of the owners of those footsteps came into his room. For now, he had privacy.

Out of habit, he glanced wearily at the ticking clock that hung on the wall. *5:30*

He felt his heart both jump for joy, but clench in sorrow at the same time.

It was almost time for his daily visit.

Almost like clockwork, his two best friends visited him at 5:45, the time when their classes ended.

They were the only people that set foot in the small room that actually treated him like a human being, and that brought him joy.

But

He knew, just knew, they only visited him everyday, treated him nicely, kept him company for a while, brought him his homework and the occasional snack

Because they felt guilty.

He could see it in their eyes, their faces. How they blamed themselves for the accident that left him like this…

And he hated that.

No matter how much he would try, he could never seem to convince the two that it was not their fault. It was an error in miscalculation that caused his condition. All three of them had been tired and had not taken the proper precautions they should have.

He blamed where he stood as the device was turned on. His tiredness from the lack of proper rest from his full college load. The lack of proper nutrition to keep his mind sharp. Having not taken the proper precautions…

Blamed whatever deity or higher power that would allow such a thing to happen.

But never them.

And frankly, their pitying was aggravating the hell out of him.

Is this what he had become? A thing to be handled with care and pitied? 

He could expect, and saw, that reaction out of the nurses that attended to him. But his two best friends?

Jack, who seemed like he could never be shaken by anything. That nothing could kill his constantly cheerful mood. Those bright sky blue eyes that always shining brightly, were always dulled down a bit. His movements were not as energetic as they always had been.

And Maddie.

Oh, Maddie…

Her reactions towards him hurt the most. 

Ever since he found out that she also shared heavy interest in the paranormal field and study, along with believing in ghosts, he felt a slight connection with her from that very moment. 

She was not only very beautiful, but she was incredibly intelligent as well. Her expertise in technology surrounding paranormal detection and study was amazing!

And she wasn’t one of those crazy people who believed anything blindly either. She looked for the science behind the claim, looking at everything through a critical lense. Not one to just take just someone’s word for it.

She was just so perfect...

Needless to say, it didn’t take long for that connection to turn into a full out crush.

He wanted so badly to spend some time with her, alone, but Jack always seemed to find a way to butt-in and ruin any chance at that... 

Regardless of Jack’s constant presence, he knew he still had a chance with her. It would just take time. 

Her amethyst eyes always shone when they glanced in his direction. That wonderful smile lighting up her face, making her features seem surreal.

But now...

Her purple gaze still held warmth, but lacked the light. The fire. Eyes that used to gaze at him fondly, now looked at him full of pity and guilt. Smile no longer reaching those orbs...

He hated seeing that look in her eyes. Of both their eyes. Made him feel guilty every time they visited. 

He was the cause of that misery in their gaze. What a horrendous friend he was…

Yet, how could he blame them?

His face was littered with nasty acne, acne that would not only would become red with irritation when he scratched the insatiable itch, but it would also disturbingly ooze pus frequently, even when he refrained from touching them. And the lumps also disfigured his face in a hideous way.

It was disgusting.

He was disgusting.

Even if his ecto-acne, as they called it, cleared up, there would certainly be some nasty scarring.

Very nasty scarring.

Sure, there was surgery.

But how in hell would he be able to afford that!?

He was a college student on financial loans and scholarships. He came from a fairly poor background, his family lived all the way down in Florida and could barely afford to help him pay to come visit during the holidays, even less afford to help pay for reconstructive surgery…

And, the funding the AXIOM corporation paid would not cover that, since reconstruction surgery was not ghost related.

Even though it was research on ghosts that caused this in the first place...

No. He was doomed to be a disgusting, ugly monster for the rest of his days.

It wouldn’t be surprising if his friends stopped visiting him everyday, after their misplaced guilt stopped eating at them.

He curled up in an even tighter ball as his anguish for the future grew.

His face would be hideous, even make-up wouldn’t be able to cover his horrible disfiguration…

He would end up old and alone for the rest of his life…

Perhaps… Perhaps it was best if he pushed them away now.

So he would stop being a burden on his friends. So they can go back to their normal, happy lives and continue their passionate pursuit of their education and future career.

A future he can no longer have.

Tears gathered in his sapphire eyes, but he held them back.

It was the last gift he could give his two friends. The only one he had left in his miserable existence. 

The gift of freedom.

…

His hypersensitive hearing started picking up the sound of familiar heavy footsteps, along with lighter ones that slowly approached the closed door of his room, sound slowly increased in volume.

He counted the pacing, something he had gotten in the habit of doing to help pass the time. He found that he could detect with very high accuracy what nurse or doctor was to enter his room based on sound of their steps in the hallway outside alone. Now, he could always recognize Jack and Maddie’s gait almost perfectly.

And it was Jack and Maddie who were approaching his room. He was sure of it.

His body tensed and he swallowed thickly lifting the blanket to cover his face as he continued to lay with his back turned to the door. Reluctant, yet willing to do what needed to be done. 

What was best for his dear friends.

The door opened.

“Hey Vladdie!” Came Jacks cheery, yet slightly toned down greeting as the light was turned on.

“Turn off the light!” Vlad snapped angrily at them.

Jack and Maddie startled at his harsh tone, not used to their fried greeting them in such a manner, but did what he asked.

Maddie bit her lip as her eyes tried adjusting to the darkness in that small room. She knew that Vlad recently always kept the light off when he was alone (which she adamantly disapproved of), but he never had a problem with them turning it on when they visited…

Also, for the brief moment the light was on, she could tell that Vlad had his back to them, and since she couldn’t hear the sound of movement in the dark, he wasn’t making any move to face them.

Her heart clenched. ‘Is he getting worse?’

She pushed the thought aside. He was probably having an off day.

Though, she couldn’t help but notice in the last few days they visited, that the light in those dark blue eyes was slowly starting to fade.

She clenched her fists tightly in frustration and helplessness. She and Jack were no closer to a cure for their friend’s ecto-acne.

Their best friend needed them. Needed them badly, and they were failing him.

Big time…

Willing her body to relax, she walked towards Vlad’s bed, doing her best to navigate the dark room in order to not trip or hit her legs hard against the frame of the bed.

Once she felt she was at the edge of the hospital bed, she gently sat down at the edge. Based on memory of what she saw when the light had been briefly on, she placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Vlad, are you feeling alright today?”

Vlad tensed as he felt the gentle hand on his shoulder, his mind was in confused circles from her reaction.

On the one hand, he welcome the affectionate touch. Jack and Maddie were the only people who ever showed him affection in this dreary place. The only people who visited him and made him feel like a human being.

His parents, not only were they all the way in Florida, a very long way from Amity, Colorado, but he refused to let them find out about his condition. He turned down the doctor’s offer of contacting his family, and since he wasn’t a minor, patient-doctor confidentiality applied and they were none the wiser. 

His family come from a poor family, father working a tiring overtime job just to scrape by the bills. Should they hear about his hospitalization, he had no doubts that they would move heaven and earth to come see him, even if that meant they would sacrifice things along the way. 

He snorted almost silently, but a small smile crept on his face in the dark thinking about how much his parents loved and cared about him. How much they sacrificed for him growing up, especially for him starting college. ‘Knowing them, they would sell their only car to come visit me here in the hospital…’

No. He couldn’t do that to them. He loved them too much.

Not only did he not want to burden them financially with the cost of them coming to Colorado to visit him, but he refused to let them see him in this pitiful state. 

He pushed aside the little voice in his head that told him they would find out eventually, refocusing on the now.

The burden he was on his two best friends. How his condition had changed them.

Especially Maddie.

The Maddie he knew, was always persistent, never taking no for an answer when she felt something was for the best, especially for her friends.

Shed argue and stand her ground against anyone, even those nearly twice her size.

She was his rock, his source of strength. When his timid nature sealed his lips, she was his voice. When tiredness kept him from working, she was his motivator. When his fear kept him from acting, she was his guide. 

The Maddie he knew would have kept the light on, dragged his sorry but out of the bed and forced him to cheer up. 

She would have done that days ago…

But that strength, that perseverance and fire he so loved about her was fading. Tuned down and slowly being replaced by a hesitant unsure woman.

All because of him…

Tears slid down his face. As guilt and pain washed over him, he felt the tiny bit of relief. 

Relief that the lights were off, so they couldn’t see his pain.

Taking in a deep breath, he steadied his resolve. Forcing himself to say the words. “I do not feel like talking today. Leave.”

He forced as much sternness as he could, hoping to leave no room for argument.

He didn’t know how much he could hold strong to his resolve should they put up a fight.

The hand on his shoulder flinched and lifted slightly, as if it had been burned.

His heart sank, creating a very heavy unpleasant feeling in his gut.

There was silence in the room.

Maddie struggled internally. Hard.

Vlad was pushing her away. She could feel it.

But

What should she do?

He was suffering terribly. She knew he needed support. Yet, even as they visited everyday, he still seemed to far worse. Unable to leave the building, stuck in the small confines of this dreary room, he no longer seemed to do the homework she and Jack brought for him.

She bit her lip, to the point a small bead of blood formed.

Maybe he needed time alone to think. Maybe that was what was best, for now.

“A-Alright hun.” Her voice cracked as she placed her hand on her lap. Her eyes beginning to fill with tears. “We will be back tomorrow.”

Forcing herself to rise from the bed, though everything in her wanted to stay, she tried to focus on giving him the chance to decide for himself. To give him the autonomy he said he desired from the doctors and scientists whom from what he told them, were utter jerks.

She and Jack would not be like that. They would respect his wishes, even if they were the only people in the world to do so. He deserved as much.

He deserved to be in control of his own life.

She rose from the hospital bed and began to walk away, head down. She hardly blinked at the light peeking out from the door as Jack silently opened the door.

Without another word, she walked out of the small room, leaving her friend behind.

As she and Jack walked down the hospital hall, neither heard the intense sobs that wracked the frame of the lonely, pained man in that dark, dreary room.

……………………………

Maddie nor Jack shared a word as they left the hospital.

Rather than take the bus, the two just walked in silence.

Walked over 45 minutes back to the university.

Maddie suddenly stopped. Her body beginning to shake, as the emotions she had fought for weeks began to surface. Unable to keep them buried and hidden any longer.

She rose her hands to her face, knees buckling and hitting the ground as she began to sob. 

Jack kneeled next to her and held her tightly in his arms, face pressed to her auburn hair as tears began to form in his eyes as well.

They embraced as guilt, hopelessness, anger, and sadness tore through them.


	4. Never Alone

It was cold in the small hospital room in the recovery wing of the hospital.

Colder than it should have been.

Heavy drapes covered the window, lights turned off. Darkness enveloping the small room like a blanket.

Dull blue eyes stared absentmindedly at the squares on the ceiling. Even in the dark room, he could could see the 30 squares that made up the bland, white ceiling. 

It was as if his very eyes had grown so accustomed to the darkness, that now he could see almost clearly in it.

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*

His constant companion clicked away. The rhythmic sound that used to plague him, now welcomed, like a long lost brother.

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*

Sapphire eyes glanced at the wall clock, squinting to read the black lettering of the clock in the darkness. *5:40*

A weary, heavy sigh that came forth from the depths of his sorrow came forth. Slowly, he closed his eyes.

Jack and Maddie would not visit him today.

They hadn’t visited for the past two days now.

It had taken them over a week to take the hint. Every day they came, he would just as quickly dismiss them. The only words he would afford his two close friends was that he did not feel like talking that day.

But finally, it seemed that they were going to leave him be.

And he didn’t know if he should be happy, or sad.

Rejecting them had become easier after the first time. His resolve strengthening and heart numbing with each dismissal.

Opening his moist eyes, he glanced at the time once more. *6:05*

Though, the pain of their absence had not softened at all…

……………………………

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*

His eyes wandered towards the time, again. *5:30*

He tore his gaze from the ticking clock, staring at the bland, empty ceiling he now knew so intimately.

Six days… It had been six days since his friends last visited him.

Six days since he had heard a friendly voice, longer since he had seen a kind smile.

Oh, there were plenty of smiles directed at him by the hospital staff.

Fake and hollow. Full of nothing but pity or dismissal.

The sound of laughter from outside of his room caught his sensitive hearing, a sharp contrast to the dreary, dark place that became his dwelling.

He gritted his teeth in annoyance at the sound.

A sound he had not made in a long time…

Without his consent, his traitorous eyes glanced back at the clock one more. *5:40*

He snapped his gaze away, anger rising at his own sentimental foolishness.

It had been six days already. Why? Oh why did he instinctively know when to glance at the left wall? Somehow know when the time his two friends used to visit was near?

And why, every time, did it make him die just a little inside?

This was what he wanted right? He knew that it would hurt. Knew that it was necessary and was the right thing to do for his two friends. That he had a hell of a path ahead of him with his major disfiguration, one that would drive anyone under along with those around.

But no matter how hard he tried to look at it with a logical mind, his heart was always in the way.

His eyes widened in surprise, breath picking up speed as his body tensed. Tears filled his eyes as his sensitive hearing caught two familiar footsteps heading towards his room.

No, it must be his imagination…

The footsteps stopped behind his door.

Vlad couldn’t bring himself to breathe as his dark eyes focused on the brass handle. Waiting.

Just as he was beginning to think that his imagination was playing tricks on him, the door opened slowly. Almost hesitantly. 

Against his will, his heart leapt in joy, and he forced an unbidden smile down.

“Hi Vlad.” Came Maddie’s soft voice, sounding almost apologetic as she opened the door.

God had he missed the sweet sound.

“Miss us, Vladdie? We sure missed you!” Jack’s cheery voice came afterward as he stepped in the room after Maddie.

Vlad was at a loss for words at their unexpected visit. He had to strain to control his body from giving anything away. How much their presence brought about mixed emotions. 

How he had missed them. Dearly.

A small, yet bright light caught his eyes and he raised his gaze to see the light of a laptop illuminate the dark room slightly.

“There they are!” Jack boasted excitedly as he grabbed the two plastic chairs that sat on the side of the room, while Maddie held the laptop to provide him some light, as they had not turned on the light in the room.

He watched with sharp eyes that could see in the dark room as if it was day as Jack pulled both chairs forward, setting them near the bed facing one another, though angled slightly to face the bed as well.

“Boy, you are lucky you didn’t have to be in professor Shumar’s class today! It was so boring, I nearly fell asleep!”

Maddie raised a brow at the large man. “Nearly? Jack, the whole class turned in our direction when you snored!”

A small smile threatened to pull on Vlad’s lips.

He could easily picture it. Jack may be bright energetic and cheery, but if you bored him, he seemed to lose that brisk energy. Even to the point of falling asleep in the most unusual, uncomfortable positions. Sometimes, positions you would not think humanly possible.

And professor Shumar was an incredibly stern and old-fashioned professor who dralled on in a boring monotone voice. Never one to pull a joke, laugh, or tolerate the smallest of offenses.

Oh, he could just imagine the professor’s face of outrage!

He snapped back to reality, his amusement and rising cheer faded almost instantly.

No! He could not be sidetracked!

“I am not in the mood for conversation.” He announced with severity in his voice, frowning at the other two even though he doubted the two would be able to see it in the darkness.

“That’s fine Vlad.” Maddie retorted as a new similar small light turned on beside her as Jack turned on his own laptop. “We are just going to do our work here. No need for you to talk.”

Vlad’s eye twitched. Then, he gritted his teeth as frustration rose. ‘Butter biscuits! They are certainly not making this easy!’

“What I mean is, I am tired. I need my rest.” He tried once more.

“Don’t worry V-man!” Replied Jack’s cheery voice. “You don’t need to get up at all!”

Vlad’s fists clenched. “I mean, I am trying to go to sleep!”

“We will be quiet, hun. Don’t you worry about a thing.” 

He was ready to pull his hair out.

He wracked his brain for another excuse. Something to get them out of his room and leave him in solitude. Anything!

But he couldn’t come up with anything else…

“Fine!” He acquiesce begrudgingly, turning over on his side with his back facing them, staring angrily at the wall next to the bed. 

They would eventually get bored of his silence and leave. He would just have to wait them out.

“Do as you wish.”

……………………………

That's how it was from then on.

Jack and Maddie would stop by everyday at 5:45 and sit in the dark on those plastic chairs that resided in the room. 

There were times they were quiet, engrossed in their personal laptops, writing an essay or completing an online quiz as Vlad lay motionless on the bed with his back towards them.

Other times, the two would talk aloud about what their class was doing, what they learned (purposely talking mostly about the classes the three of them shared). At times, they would address Vlad with a question, giving a long stretch of silence. As he would not provide an answer, they would return to discussing it between the two of them.

He knew what they were doing. Could easily tell they were trying to establish a connection with him while at the same time, giving him his space. The questions they asked were meant to be mentally challenging. He knew that the silence after the question was not because they expected an answer, but because they knew him so well that they knew he would work through the question and answer in his head. Giving him something to do when he just wanted his mind to go blank and for them to just leave.

This was not how it was supposed to turn out! They were supposed to give up on him and continue their happy little lives! Instead, they were doing the polar opposite!

Because they always came with their laptop and college bag, not only did they have plenty to do, they stayed even longer than they used to. Doing their homework in his recovery room instead of in their own dorm rooms later.

Silence was getting him nowhere! And the frustration was mounting, increasing every time they visited.

Anger that he was unable to stay strong for the sake of his friends. That if this continued, they would also be sucked into the darkness that was doomed to surround him for the rest of his life.

Something in him snapped.

“Get out…” He mumbled in a low, almost inaudible voice.

Jack and Maddie perked up when they heard their silent friend finally say something, even though they had not quite understood what he said.

“Could you repeat-”

“I said, GET OUT!” He shouted with fury, picking up the notebook that sat beside his bed, throwing it at them.

Maddie and Jack quickly got up from their chairs, taking a step back, eyes wide and utterly floored by Vlad’s sudden outburst.

“V-Vladdie I-”

“I said get out!” He gazed at the two with all the hate he could muster, the low light from the laptops almost making his sapphire eyes glow green…

Madie raised her hands in surrender. Shaken and unsure on what to do about how their friend was strangely behaving. “V-Vlad, dear… you have to calm down…” 

She dodged another book thrown in her direction, as the orderlies rushed into the room to see what all the commotion was about.

“Get out, GET OUT!!” 

The two orderlies that had entered the room looked at Maddie and Jack. “Will you two step outside?”

Shocked, the two didn’t put up any resistance as they were escorted out of the door.

Vlad slammed back down on his bed, hands holding his head as his heart broke.

The way they had looked at him…

Hot tears fell as he gazed at the ceiling once more. Heart constricting painfully as his pain only increased in severity with every passing moment.

Turning to lay on his side, his cries turned into sobs as could only lay there helplessly.

His sobs wracked his frame as he scrunched himself in a tight ball, the tears flowing like a broken dam as his arms wrapped around his body in a pitiful attempt to comfort his agony.

Tears for the present.

Tears for the future.

Tears for what would never be.

……………………………………

‘No…’

Vlad pulled at his hair in frustration as his ears picked up the sound of a familiar pair of footsteps slowly approaching his room.

He thought for sure that they would not return. That yesterday’s sudden outburst would be the last straw. The straw that would finally break their resolve and guilt, and they would finally move on with their lives, facing a bright unhindered future without him dragging them down.

Yet… Here they were…

“Hey V-Man!” Sounded the familiar voice as the door opened. Cheery, yet conservative demeanor normal, as if he hadn’t almost bitten off their heads yesterday with his sudden tantrum.

His head felt like it was going to explode as his frustration grew.

“GET OUT JACK!!”

He didn’t even open his eyes, instead kept them scrunched shut as his hands pressed hard on his face in an attempt to block out the pain. He didn’t want to see the pained expression on their faces as he flat out rejected them. 

A part of him said he should. That he deserved to see the pain he was causing them.

He pushed that thought away. He was too much of a coward to fuel his misery at the moment. Not while his only salvation stood right at the door.

“Okay hun… we will be back tomorrow.” Came Maddie’s gentle voice.

He listened with his sensitive hearing as their footsteps slowly faded away, his teeth clenched so hard, he thought they would shatter.

…………………………………….

He tried. 

By god he tried.

Every Time they visited him, he snapped angrily at them. At first, his outburst was solely based on the words ‘get out’, but as they kept insisting on stopping by, his verbal attacks became more elaborate.

He started to insult them. How incompetent they were for failing to find a cure, saying that he blamed them for the accident that would ruin his entire life, how he loathed to see their normal, unscathed faces.

All lies. Lies he told to push them away. Anything to get them to stop coming. For them to leave him to rot.

Because a thing like him had no future. No hope. 

No purpose.

But they always came back the next day.

………………………………..

They didn’t give up. They just wouldn’t stop…

His mind was blank, as it mostly was, as he sat in the hospital bed, gazing at the white sheet that covered his legs without really seeing anything.

Even in his bland state, he could always hear the sound of those familiar footsteps. Footsteps that would always pull him out of the brink of despair. A sound that would spark an involuntary light within the darkness of his heart.

Anger rose and mixed with his ever increasing despair. The sapphire eyes went from dull to almost intensely bright in less than two seconds.

“Hi Vladdie.” Jack’s beaming voice had become very subdued with each outburst.

Vlad tightened his hands into fists. Hard.

They just wouldn’t stop! No matter how hard he tried to push them away, they still came back the next day. Even if their visits had turned into momentary greetings only to be removed by his outbursts or sometimes even by the orderlies when he got really verbally aggressive.

His eyes closed tightly as his body began to shake. A whirlwind of so many different emotions coursing through his head.

“Why???”

He wasn’t worth their time and effort. Even if he did not have a disfigured face and a terrible future ahead of him, he isn’t worth all this...

Jack and Maddie blinked at the soft question. They had been bracing for an all out yelling and aggression bout from their charcoal haired friend, as had unfortunately been the norm for days.

“Why?” He repeated louder this time. Face grimacing and full of emotional pain.

The two friends glanced at each other at the door. Both afraid to utter a single word or even move, lest they upset Vlad in the worse way an he returns to yelling at them again.

“W-Why do you care so much..” He asked feebly, his body having lost all energy as he sagged. Spent and tired of fighting. Of feeling pain.

Tears began to fall from his eyes, but he was too exhausted to keep them from falling.

Even though they couldn’t see how defeated Vlad’s expression was, they could hear how broken he was by how he said the work. 

“I’m, I’m h-hideous. A m-monster…” He began to sob.

Maddie and Jack were by his side in an instant and hugged him tightly.

He was too pained and tired to fight the embrace. 

And the affections that his friends showed him, even after he had done all he could to push them away, hurt even more.

Especially as he noted that for the first time, Jack’s embrace wasn’t cutting off his air circulation.

He sobbed even harder as he was held lovingly by his two loyal best friends. 

Two friends that refused to abandon him. Refused to turn their backs on him in his darkest hour. 

They would stick by him through thick and thin. Regardless of how far he fell, how much he broke, they would always be there to help put the pieces back together again.

Like family.


	5. What You've Become

Vlad stood at the bright waiting room, leaning against the shelf in front of the front desk of the hospital, waiting as the nurse prepared the final release paperwork.

Two months… He had spent two entire months in that god-forsaken place, depression nearly swallowing him whole in that dark, dreary room.

But after his breakdown in front of Jack and Maddie, the two friends who never deserted him, he was able to begin his upward climb back from the depths of despair and reclaim the some semblance of life.

He started doing his schoolwork again, starting with emailing his professors, asking for extensions and requesting the possibility of extra credit for points that were impossible to fulfil at the given time, like class quizzes or class attendance.

Relief had washed over him when he received the responses back. All of his professors were incredibly understanding and flexible, allowing him to make up the grades as the accident had been on the university campus and they had been informed. He would not have to retake credits or have failed scores.

Determined once more, he had spent nearly all personal time trying desperately to catch up.

When he didn’t have the unavoidable, unfortunate scientific visits…

Even though the experimentation and showcase of his condition continued, he was able to better handle it. Regardless of how these other people treated him, Jack and Maddie still cared. It didn’t heal all the pain, but they were a crutch that he clung to for dear life.

He began to converse with Jack and Maddie once more. They continued to visit everyday and he no longer tried to pushed them away.

The unconditional support his friends showed him, as well as their unwillingness to abandon him no matter how hard he tried to push them away, helped him far more than he can ever express.

He even kept his bedroom light on and the window open, even though he could see perfectly in the darkness (more to appease his two worried friends than for his own sake).

It was not to say that all was peachy and dandy, far from it. He still had depression hit him every once and awhile. Could feel the despair of the uncertain future with such a disfigured face. 

But it was more manageable now. His future didn’t look pitch black now. More like a very dark grey. 

Wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.

Right now, he was so looking forward to be back in his dorm room again. To be surrounded by his own things (and Jack’s since they were roommates) and not have the door open almost 24/7 and have strangers prodding you, taking your temperature, or just walking in like they owned the place.

He missed having the freedom of deciding the normal things one takes for granted; the what, when, and where of everyday living. When his television was to be on, where to place his personal belongings, what the temperature in the room was to be set to, what to wear.

Not to be treated like an insignificant lab rat.

Not to say he didn’t have appointments he had to keep, involving the study of his ecto-acne, but at least those were scheduled, and not out of the blue.

And the hospital food…

He shivered as he waited at the front desk. Remembering everything he had to put up with for the entirety of two months...

Oh yeah. He was so ready to be out of here.

He fiddled with the large collar on the large beige trench coat he had on. Lifting the collar higher to cover as much of his face as he could, doing his damndest not to scratch the terrible, constant itch that plagued his face...

He also wore a brown hat and sunglasses. Jack was nice enough to fulfill his request to get him something to cover his nasty condition from others.

Last thing he wanted to do, was walk back to the dorms looking like a freak.

Well, not that he did not look strange enough wearing a long heavy trench coat in late April…

But still! Much better than he would have had he not worn anything to cover his face.

He signed the last paper needed for his official release and took all the paperwork he was handed. Turning to walk out of the hospital building he had been caged into for so long.

The breeze of fresh air hit him rather pleasantly as he stepped out of the double doors of the hospital, even with his heavily covered attire.

And he just stood there. Basking in the light of the sun. The clean brisk air that could not be emulated by the artificial air conditioner of a building. His nose picking up so many different odors, instead of being overwhelmed by the antiseptic scent of the cleaning supplies he had to endure for two months. So incredibly relieved to be out of that dreary building.

Looking up at the sky over his dark sunglasses he could see the clear blue sky. The sun shone brightly, not a cloud in the sky.

Oddly enough, he did not feel hot in his heavy trench coat.

Before he could ponder the strangeness of the lack of heat he should be feeling in sunny April, a car horn caught his attention and he shifted his gaze toward the sound that originated from the pickup/dropoff section in front of the hospital.

“Hey V-Man!!”

“Hop in!”

Came the two excited voices of Jack and Maddie as they waved at him enthusiastically. 

Vlad smiled warmly, touched that they were actually here. Of course they wouldn’t forget his release time, even if that meant they were both currently cutting classes.

He waved back and approached the vehicle. “I see your father allowed you to take his car out for a spin.” He commented, tone doubtful as he opened the back door and sat in the back.

Jack gave out a boisterous laugh. “Well, as long as this baby stays spotless, he won’t even tell!” The big guy gave the blue car an affectionate pat.

Maddie turned around in the seat to look back at Vlad. “Where would you like to eat lunch, hun? Our classes got cancelled for the rest of the day, so we're all yours!”

Vlad raised an eyebrow in disbelief. As seniors, as much as th y tried to take the same classes together, there was bound to be some they wouldn’t, and some of the afternoon classes they took this semester were separate. It was highly unlikely they both had their afternoon classes cancelled at the same time.

It was obvious they were doing it for his sake. And he couldn’t help but feel happy about it. Even if a tad of guiltiness pricked him.

He smirked, casting his gaze a bit above the sunglasses. “Cancelled, eh?”

“Yep! What can we say V-Man! The best student is gone for a while and the school falls apart!” Jack joked.

They shared a mutual laugh in the bright sunlight, an occurrence that hadn't happened in a long time.

………………...

Vlad was happy to hear the familiar ping of the door as they walked into the small diner near campus. The smell of cooking meat and grease heavy in the air inside of the small business.

The Nasty Burger.

Though why it had such an atrocious name, he hadn’t a clue.

Having grown up in a modest home, leaning towards the poor side, eating at any restaurants (even fast food) had always been more of a treat. As such, he found these fast-food burgers quite delicious, always enjoying them when he could afford to.

His stomach let out a growl…

And man, was he hungry.

It was in the middle of lunchtime, so there was a bit of a line to place an order.

Jack wrapped his shoulders around Vlad enthusiastically, a big grin on his face. “Come on Vladdie! Let’s grab a table!”

Vlad held back from wincing. Even the month in the hospital could not get him to miss the familiar manhandling that was a staple for his large best friend.

Maddie interjected before he could be whisked away. “Oh no Jack. It’s your turn to stand in line. I did it last time.”

Jack’s shoulders slumped and his face fell. “Aww… I hate standing in line…”

“As do we all.” Maddie replied easily, not moved by the puppy dog face Jack was sporting. 

She snaked her hand around Vlad’s arm, leaning close. Pulling him away from the line.

Vlad’s heart beat sped up, his breathing increasing as his arm was held by those slender gentle arms belonging to the woman he had a huge crush on.

He felt his face turn bright red.

‘Thank heaven’s nearly my entire face is cover-’

His thoughts was abruptly cut short as he fell forward, his foot sinking in a hole in the ground. “Wahh!”

“Ahh!!” He barely registered Maddie's surprised yelp as she herself was pulled forward as well, having had her arms linked with his.

Pain shot up his legs as his knees hit the smooth floor hard. But he brushed the painful feeling aside as his fast reflexes caught Maddie in his arms before she hit the floor in front of him.

They both panted a bit in shock, having nearly fallen to the floor. The people around them glancing at them in various ways. Some with concern, some dismissively, or some snickering at their misfortune.

Finally blinking out of his shock, Vlad scrambled up, about to help Maddie before he realized she was already up as well. “I’m so sorry! I tripped on-”

He blinked in confusion. 

He was about to say ‘a random hole in the floor’ when he realized there was no hole. 

Looking around, especially in front and behind him, he failed to find the hole his foot had sunk into, causing his fall.

‘That's extremely odd. I swear my right foot failed to touch the floor…’

He felt a small hand on his arm. “Are feeling well, Vlad?”

Blinking in confusion, he turned his attention back to the amethyst color eyes that glanced at him with slight worry.

He placed his hand behind his neck nervously. “Ah, yes, yes. I am fine!” And he turned to walk to the nearest table.

Maddie stood there for a few seconds, still a bit concerned, but sighed and followed Vlad to the table.

She sat across the table from him. 

And there was silence.

Madie couldn’t help but feel concerned about Vlad. It was his first day out of the hospital, and even though Vlad was socially awkward, he rarely tripped. She tried to gauge how her friend was feeling and frowned slightly. It was near impossible to see his emotional state thanks to the large sunglasses, the high turtleneck shirt that was stretched to his chin, the trench coat’s collar that covered most of his cheeks, and the hat that was tipped downward to block the exposed forehead.

But it was just as well.

Not for what she thought, mind you. To her, her best friend would still be Vlad regardless of what his outward appearance was.

It was just... she knew how sensitive he was about his condition. Somehow, that man had got it in his head that he was a hideous monster. 

Lord knows how much it took for her and Jack to get through to him in his time of deep depression…

Even though the lumps on his face from the ecto-acne and blast burns were receding, the skin was beginning to scar. 

Badly.

She and Jack would just have to work harder on lifting Vlad’s spirits.

Maybe… when he was fairly comfortable with not hidding his face away (for they all knew he could not get through life without showing his face sometime), maybe they could hook him up in a blind date.

Hhmmm….

Harriet is currently single and not a shallow girl…

She made a mental note to think more about it later.

First, she had to make sure he was doing okay. After all, this was his first time out of the hospital in an entire month. And on top of that he was dressed like a very reclusive Sherlock Holmes.

She stretched across the table and laid her hand gently on the hand he had on the table. “How are you feeling?” She said softly.

Vlad jumped slightly at the unexpected contact. 

But

It felt… odd…

His eyes moved to where their hands met.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t feel her hand touching his, but…

It lacked warmth.

Not emotional warmth, but the normal, physical warmth that body heat produced. That one could feel when skin came into contact with skin.

Especially from Maddie, who’s touch always seemed warmer. He could always feel the heat that radiated off of her skin when they accidentally brushed.

But now, there was none…

“Vlad?”

He startled once more, realizing he had yet to respond to her question.

Looking back up, he saw those beautiful purple eyes gazing at him with unending compassion and patience. The small smile on her red lips lighting up her face.

He was tired.

Tired of everything that had happened to him. Weary of the strange things kept happening to him, feeling weird.

Too tired to put up a fake happiness.

He sighed. “I just need to get used to being outside again…”

Satisfied with his answer, she smiled a bit wider, patting his hand reassuringly. “Give it some time. Things will get back to normal. You’ll see.”

The table gave a jerky shake as Jack plopped two big trays full of wrapped burgers. “Off to grab the drinks!! Don’t start without me!” And he walked off in a hurry, carrying the empty cups.

Vlad blinked, gazing at the sheer amount of food placed on the table. “Maddie… Don’t tell me Jack eats even more than the last time I was here…”

He swore Jack was going to get really fat if he kept this up…

Maddie seemed just as confused as she looked at the amount of food on the table.

“All right!!!” Jack explained enthusiastically, setting the drinks on the table. “Time to chow down!”

He grabbed four wrappers, sliding one towards Maddie. Then shoved four burgers towards Vlad. “Eat up!”

Vlad raised an eyebrow. “Jack, has it really been so long you have forgotten just how little I eat??”

“Hey, You’re skin and bones Vladdie! Time to beef up!”

Maddie opened her wrapper. “While I agree he needs to gain a few pounds, I don’t think he needs to gain that much, Jack…”

“Nonsense! Besides, it's all paid for!”

Vlad shook his head, but he still wore a small smile. He knew his large best friend was only trying to look out for him, in his own way.

He grabbed the first wrapper, knowing he was going to be very full at the end of this…

………………………………………

It was the late nine o'clock hour when Vlad and Jack said their goodbyes to Maddie and headed to the boy’s dorm building.

Vlad was relieved step into the familiar room that he had been absent from an entire month.

Today’s activities had been exhausting, but in a good way. 

It had been incredibly joyous to spend an entire day with his two best friends like old times. After they ate at The Nasty Burger, the trio had gone for a drive around Amity, found a nice park to sit down at, took a walk on a nearby trail. All activities that benefited from simply being outside. Lord knew Vlad could use the fresh air after being cooped up inside that damn hospital for so long...

They even went to the University paranormal lab.

At first, they had been hesitant to take him there, considering that’s where the accident happened, but with his insistence (and promise that he would be okay) they finally went. 

He was a bit hesitant at the door, but found his courage and entered the lab.  
He was pleased to see that the place looked like nothing had happened at all, obviously rebuilt by the business that funded the paranormal research in this university. The job was so well done, It looked as if the whole explosion had all been a figment of his imagination.

‘If only it had…’ He thought bitterly as he gazed into his reflection in the bathroom mirror in his dorm room as he thought back on the occurrences of earlier in the day. 

The lumps were starting to recede, but noticeable scarring was starting to take their place. The already scarred burn marks adding to the disfiguration that was now his face.

Will always be his face…

With disheartening sigh, he walked out of the small bathroom. 

He gazed around the decent sized dorm room as he had done when he entered for the first time earlier today.

It was fairly larger than the typical dorm rooms for Amity University. Another perk of being a paranormal major, was that after freshman year, you had the privilege to stay in the dorm building typically reserved for seniors. The rooms were bigger and the shared facilities had newer appliances, more televisions, and study rooms throughout the building. Each room even came with it’s own small bathroom! 

Apparently, the company that sponsored the paranormal department made some sort of financial deal with the university to make this arrangement as a perk for enlisting for the major. 

His gaze moved to Jack’s side of the dorm, and was still as surprised as he been when he had walked in earlier today.

Jack’s side of the room was actually clean!

He had expected it to be a mess, like always. Jack always left trash on the floor, papers scattered about, dirty laundry thrown carelessly…

Vlad always scolded his roommate because of his sloppiness and disorganization. Even if Jack kept the disaster generally on his side, it was still a disgusting side to see in the place you live in.

But, thoughtful and kind Jack, seemed to had made sure that the whole dorm room was spotless for his return from the hospital.

Although, he imagined his large roommate had gotten help from Maddie. The dorm was too clean.

He smiled at Jack, who was sound asleep on the bed, fortunate for having such thoughtful friends.

Walking over to his own twin sized bed, he flopped on his bed and a contented sigh left his lips.

Never did he think that he would miss this thin, uncomfortable bed. But compared to the hospital one he had been in for about 30 days, it felt soft as a cloud.

Ohh…

It was so nice to be home!

He felt his body release a tension that he didn’t even realized he carried. Tension built from the long-time exposure to an unfamiliar environment, constant strange sounds and smells, being among strangers, constant fear of being looked at and judged, lack of privacy, and not being surrounded by personal things.

Here, he was safe. Here he was at peace.

The only other person who had unlimited access to this room was his roommate and best friend Jack, but thankfully, he had grown to be fairly accustomed to being seen by him and the big guy had already seen him at his worse.

Also, Jack never looked at him like a freak, or a wounded animal, like the hospital staff often did when they thought he wasn’t looking, or when they thought they had covered their reaction up with a fake smile. Hell, he could sometimes even forget he had a highly disfigured face when he was talking with his big college friend...

A contented sigh escaped his lips, and he felt his body cool down.

But he paid it no mind. It actually felt really nice…

His mind finally at ease

And he felt himself fading peacefully. His body feeling the weightlessness of sleep.

For the first time in a long time, sleep came easy.

…………………………..

Unfortunately, his sleep was far from peaceful...

Another nightmare had him tossing and turning around.

Green…

Som much green…

It was suffocating.

Oppressing!

It was hard to breath.

He couldn't breath!!!

He was panicking now.

Mouth wide open in an attempt to swallow the much needed air

But his lungs just wouldn’t work properly!

The green oppression kept constricting him tighter.

Tighter!

And he felt his heart stop.

His eyes flew open and he sat up with a jolt, fear clouding his vision as he gasped, shaking.

It took him a brief second to collect himself. To realize where he was.

In his dorm room.

Sighing in relief, he laid back down again.

Only to realize that there was nothing touching his back.

Also… did the ceiling look a little… closer than usual??

Frowning in confusion, he lowered his hands to his back searching for what should have been a solid mattress.

But there was none.

He lowered his hands even farther down as he continued laying on his back, staring at the ceiling. Expecting to feel something.

Anything.

But, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing below him…

He blinked once. Twice.

Slowly turned his head to look bellow.

Only to find he was floating almost four feet in the air above his bed.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

He panicked, freaked out beyond belief as he flailed comically in the air. Trying to grab onto something.

Anything!

Heavy footsteps hit the ground and a light was turned on. “Vladdie! What hap-” Jacks sentence was halted at what he saw in shock, flying in the air.

“GHOST!!!” Jack yelled in surprize.

Swiftly, he pointed a finger towards the floating Vlad.

Vlad had snapped from his panicked frenzy when Jack had yelled ‘ghost’. Looking around him expecting to see some ghost keeping him aloft.

Only to freeze when he looked down at himself.

Instead of the normal Green Bay Packers pajamas he should have been wearing, he had on a completely different attire!

A black lab coat he had never seen before was on him. Beneath it, a light grey shirt with two thin horizontal dark grey lines across his midsection and white jeans. And on his feet were black sneakers.

Nothing of which he owned. Of that he was sure of...

And even with little light in the room, the strange ensemble seemed to glow...

He had absolutely no clue as to how the hell he came to be dressed in such odd attire. Though somehow, it did seem a little…

Familiar…

What he couldn’t see, was the fact his smoky hair had turned snow white. His once blue eyes turned a bright glowing neon green.

He was floored. Utterly floored by this turn of events. He had no idea what the hell was going on!

While Vlad was frozen in shock, Jack jumped towards the nightstand where the large man slept. Swiftly opening the top drawer, big hands grabbed a medium sized, large nozzle gun made especially for ghosts.

The quick movement out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention and he tore his gaze away from himself.

Only to stare in fear into a loaded gun pointed straight at him.

His neon eyes widened as he realized his friend’s misinterpretation of the situation.

“Jack! I’m not a gh-”

“Eat this you flying beast!!” Jack shouted as he pulled the trigger.

Vlad automatically flew backwards in an attempt to avoid the blast. Instinctively having gained a fair control of his flight due to the adrenalin of his life being in danger.

His back hit the wall and he felt the shock of the gun’s electrical impact.

And his back was no longer against the wall.

Opening his eyes with a groan, he realized he was now in the bathroom that was right behind the wall beside his bed.

He had no idea how he got there, but at least he was away from-

The bathroom door was kicked open violently as Jack stood in the doorway, pistol in hand.

Vlad panicked again, flailing his arms madly in an attempt to make his friend see reality. “Jack! JACK! I’m not a ghost!!”

“Ha! I know a ghost when I see one! Now.” Jack pointed the gun back in his direction. A dangerous look in blue eyes he had never, ever seen before in the large kind man. “What. Did. You. Do. To. Vlad…”

Even Jack’s voice had turned dark, menacing.

Hell, it was even the first time he had heard the big guy ever call him plain Vlad…

Slowly, he floated down to the ground, arms in the air in surrender. 

“Jack. It is me...” He pleaded. Staring straight into the eyes of his best friend. Trying to convey all of the sincerity of that statement he could muster.

He saw a flicker of doubt enter those blue eyes.

But it only lasted a second.

“Wrong answer ghost!”

Electrical shock shot through his system again, pain causing him to double over.

The sparks subsided.

“I ask you again! Where is Vladdie!”

“I’m here-”

“Ahh!!” 

Shock again. This time, he fell to his knees as the pain weakened him further. Black spots dancing through his vision. It was getting hard to think.

“Uhhggg…”

His hands touched the floor as he knelt in pain. 

He didn’t really hear the gasp of shock from his friend, or see the sudden bright light that flashed then faded into nothingness.

Breathing heavily now, he could feel his heart pumping a million miles an hour.

“Vladdie!!!”

His head hurt like hell… He felt like he had been hit by a truck.

Large arms wrapped around him. “V-Man!! Say something!!”

The panicked tone of Jack's voice brought him a bit out of the fuzziness his head was experiencing at the moment. 

He looked into the face of his best friend and saw the other gasp in shock, as if it was the first time Jack had seen his hideous, disfigured face. 

That made him frown heavily, heart constricting in pain as if he had been stabbed by a knife. His friend’s reaction hurt him deeply.

The one person who continued to look at him like he was normal was Jack. Maddie, while she treated him like he was normal, sometimes had that sad look in her eyes. But not his large friend.

“Don’t look at me like that Jack. Not you.” He hissed, full of anger, but there was clear pain in those sapphire eyes.

“B-But Vladdie, your face-”

“I know what my face looks like!” He yelled full of rage, hands balled into fists. “Don’t you think I of all people know how hideous I’ve become!”

He pushed Jack away and stood on shaky feet.

“But you're cured!!”

Jacks astonished exclamation cut through his anger, leaving his mouth wide open as he tried to process what the other had said.

No. It was not possible. Maybe it was a joke.

He dismissed that thought immediately. Jack joked around, but it was never in cruelty, as a joke like that would clearly be. Also, Jack's jokes were always rooted in truths, not rooted in contradictory humor.

Was it… Was it possible??

Could such a, miracle, happen to him?

He turned immediately towards the bathroom mirror.

And couldn’t believe what his eyes saw.

“T-This… T-This is not…possible!!!” 

His reflection in the mirror stared back at him, blemish free!

The scarring, the lumps, the burn marks were gone! All gone!

As if it never even happened!

Gingerly, he lifted a hand to his face. Touching the skin as if he was afraid too much contact would break the illusion and his appearance would return to the monstrosity it had become.

Tears filled his eyes as he kept touching the smooth surface of his face.

It was real.

“H-How…” His voice broke as he stared at the wondrous miracle that stared right back. No longer was he plagued by the hideous complexion that would ruin his future!

A heavy hand was placed on his shoulder, jolting him back to the reality that he wasn’t alone in the bathroom.

“We must go to the paranormal lab.” Jack said gently, but filled with urgency.

Vlad blinked a little in confusion, causing the big man to frown.

“I think… I think you're possessed by a ghost, Vlad…” He finished gravely.

Vlad’s eyes widened in horror. That would explain it! The floating in midair, the strange glow and attire-

But wait…

He never felt like he was being strung along like a puppet. Never felt trapped and dazed or had a ‘blackout’.

More importantly.

He never felt another presence in his mind. 

All throughout he was entirely aware of his surroundings and in full control of his actions. Well, atleast, the actions one can normally do, like move arms, legs and such.

Flying was a completely different ball game.

But even so, near the end there he had gotten a grasp of it and could move fairly well by his own will.

Things a possessed human would not be able to do.

Still, Jack was right. They needed to get to the lab for analysis pronto!

He nodded in affirmation. They nearly ran out of the bathroom and were about to head out of the door when Vlad stopped suddenly.

“Umm… Jack…”

The big guy popped stopped in the doorway and turned around, a worried frown on his face.

Vlad glanced at the pink pajamas and pink top hat his friend was wearing. “I think you should… change first.”

Jack blinked in slight confusion, then looked down. Finally noticing that he was dressed in his favorite pink pajamas.

He laughed boisterously, a hand behind his neck. “Ha ha ha ah! I suppose you’re right Vladdie!”

Vlad watched as the big man trotted back to the bedroom to change, and he decided to glance back at himself and his strange black and white attire.

Only to find he was in his normal Green Bay Packers pajamas. 

He stared at the familiar green shirt with yellow lettering and soft long green plaid style pants strangely.

Wasn’t he in some strange black lab coat just a momen-

He shook his head dismissively. He would figure things out in a moment down at the lab. Right now, he should change into day wear attire himself.

………………………………………….

Maddie slept soundly in her bed, completely unawares of all that had occurred just moments ago.

A *ping* alert sounded on her phone beside the white nightstand, awaking the brunette from her peaceful sleep.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly, but she sat up in her bed.

Her phone was on silent, but she had Jack’s number set to ring at anytime should he contact her.

She took a glance at the alarm clock beside her bed

And her eyes widened in surprise.

And while texting during the evening happened often, never had Jack texted her during the middle of the night.

Especially not at 2 in the morning!

She instantly sobered up and grabbed the phone in a hurry, unlocking it and reading the text in increasing worry.

-Jack: To Lab, G emergency!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
> 
> Hehehe. Hopefully yall noticed the change in quality of this picture verses my old ones! ^ ^
> 
> I downloaded photoshop and I have been playing around with it a bit! :)
> 
> I will be watching videos to help me better work on my drawings so hopefully my photos will be improving from here on out. I might even someday return to fix the earlier two! ^ ^
> 
> Fell free to write a comment! :)


	6. Nothing As It Was Before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! This was the longest Chapter I've ever written! XD
> 
> Please Review if you like! I always love reviews! Even constructive criticism! Feedback is a big way we improve! ^ ^
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ....................................................................................................................................................

Maddie Fenton dressed quicker than she ever had before, and quietly. As she hastily gathered her two ecto-zappers, her eyes glanced apprehensively at the bed beside her own. On it, slept her roommate/paranormal science rival, Susan.

Last thing she wanted to do was wake the woman up and have to lie about the reasons why she was scrambling out the dorm at two in the morning. Knowing the sharp minded Susan, the girl would not buy the lie and try and follow her to what Jack and Vlad discovered regarding a ‘G’ (Ghost) emergency.

Fortunately, she successfully gathered everything and silently closed the dorm room door without waking her nosy roommate.

She ran down the empty hallways of the building, mind moving a million miles an hour. 

A ghost emergency could mean anything! A ghost attack, a possession of someone they knew or didn’t know, a plain ghost sighting…

But the fact that they asked her to meet them in the lab could only mean a few things. That they collected some ecto-samples or the most unplausible, yet the most incredible if true: they somehow managed to actually capture a ghost. 

Before she realized it, she had arrived at the paranormal lab of the science department building. Hand on her ecto-zapper, she opened the door cautiously to peer inside.

In the bright light of the lab, she saw Jack and Vlad bustling about with incredible excitement and energy. They were grabbing many different devices and activating different computers from their shut-off mode. The excitement in the air along with the missing fear of threat off of her two friends calmed her battle ready demeanor, and she relaxed a little.

Lowering her gun, she walked into the lab, her presence going completely unnoticed by the two men as they continued their scrambling.

“Is the main computer operational yet Jack?” Vlad asked as his back was turned to her as he gathered certain devices from the locked cabinets.

“Still on loading screen… DNA scanner is almost online!” Said Jack as he waited with a vial in hand filled with red liquid she assumed was blood.

She arched a brow in confusion. Why in the world would they analyze blood?

“What is all the comotion?”

The two men flinched at her voice, having only now noticed that they were not completely alone.

She had no reaction when Jack looked in her direction, but she gasped loudly, eyes widening like saucers and hand rising to cover her open mouth in shock when Vlad turned to look her way.

It was impossible to believe what her eyes were showing her. “V-Vlad y-your, your face!”

Vlad was about to say something when Jack suddenly interrupted him. “We have more important things than that! Vlad’s was possessed by a ghost!” Jack shouted as he activated the DNA analyzer he was standing in front of.

Maddies shocked reaction immediately was replaced with a determined frown. Her protective nature for her friend as well as her trained calmness under ghost related emergencies switching her gears and pushing her into focus. Grabbing her lab coat that hung by the door next to other ones, she dashed over in the direction of the piled electronics as she tied her curly hair in a ponytail, and quickly began to activate them.

Having worked so closely with the pair over the years meant she was easily and quickly able to assess what gap she needed to cover without being need to be told. 

The three began to work rapidly to examine this new turn of events.

……………………………………….

Hours…

They spent hours in the lab.

Prodding, poking, stabbing, injecting, scanning…

Though Vlad was a scientist and completely understood the need and reason behind all of these tests, having gone through a lot after he had contracted ecto-acne, god, he was getting very sick of them.

And his companions insisted on asking the same question over and over again…

He rubbed his temples for the upteenth time. His smoky grey hair fairly disheveled, parts falling from his hair tie from all the times the stress had him pulling his own hair out. 

“For the last time… There is not, and never was, a voice in my head!!”

“We just need to be thorough Vlad, you know that.” Maddie responded easily, but with a tinge of sympathy as she analyzed the fifth sample of blood they had retrieved from the poor patient. 

She frowned as the blood failed to turn a different color. There was just no trace of ghost ectoplasm in his bloodstream.

Same result all of the tests the conducted showed again and again.

Absolutely nothing to even suggest that Vlad had any encounter with a specter whatsoever. Not even a small haunt. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought those two had made the entire thing up.

Every time there is a contact with the supernatural there is always some trace of ecto-energy or ectoplasm on the skin where the person came into contact with either something the ghost had touched/passed through, or the ghost itself.

In the more extreme case of a possession, as was Jack’s claim, there would be even more evidence of the ghost’s contact with the human, even traces of ectoplasm in the bloodstream that could last for days after the ghost left the host.

But there was nothing!

Zilch, nada, zero.

Nothing at all to indicate Vlad had been into any contact with anything supernatural in the last few days.

But she knew Jack and Vlad very well. Not only did they not play pranks on each other, or many pranks at all, they would never joke about serious matters, especially matters regarding ghosts…

And there was no way this could be dismissed as a bad dream. If it somehow had been only a dream, there was no way they both could have shared the exact same dream. They collaborated about the same thing!

Her fingers rubbed her temples with pressure. She was frustrated, frustrated and tired.

With a weary glance, she looked in the direction of the wall clock, feeling her stomach ache in protest as she noted the time.

*7:45am*

She then glanced at the two men, both wearing tired and equally frustrated expressions.

They were probably just as hungry as she was, having spent since two in the morning dealing with this without eating a thing or having had any break whatsoever.

Especially Jack.

Unfortunately, it was a Saturday. The university diner did not offer breakfast on the weekends, only brunch and dinner, so she would have to go to a cafe outside of campus to get something to eat.

A sigh escaped her lips as she removed her rubber gloves. “I’m going to go to grab us some breakfast. You two want anything besides the usual?” 

The two men shrugged, too frustrated about the tests and too exhausted to care.

Another deep sigh. She couldn’t blame them…

……………………………………………

She brought back the usual four bags of meals they usually got for breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays. One each for her and Vlad and two for Jack.

Handing the two bags to large hands, she was sad to see that Jack lacked the usual enthusiasm and happiness that food usually brought. She had expected the sweet smell of bacon would at least raise his spirits if a little bit. Food always did...

Her heart ached at the sight, and she felt a desperate urge to hold him. To comfort the large man she cared so much about. But she refrained from doing so.

Their relationship had gone past that of normal friends, or that of best friends. While Vlad had spent two months in the hospital they had become something… more.

The guilt about what happened, the stress about their suffering friend, and frustration about not being able to do anything about it changed how they treated each other. Having nowhere else to really turn and having both sharing the same guilt, stress, and frustration over their mutual best friend pushed them to seek comfort in each other’s arms. Something that made them no longer able to see each other as just ‘best friends’.

What exactly they saw each other as, neither were sure. They both confessed that they shared feelings for each other, even kissed and held hands at times when they had been alone, but they were very hesitant to form a relationship, as there was a huge risk in taking such a step between them. There was a lot of fear that they could ruin their strong friendship should anything go wrong.

Not only that, but there was also Vlad…

Especially considering the accident and his forced isolation from the norm, and his whole world turned upside down, it would not mean to spring another change on the man. The poor guy had suffered enough already.

Then there's the fear of him becoming the third wheel should she and Jack become an item, further causing their friend pain, grief, and loneliness... 

So, instead of hugging him like she wanted to do she placed a gentle hand on that large shoulder (knowing that Vlad was too preoccupied in his own world to notice) and sent him a sympathetic smile, using that to express the feelings she was unable to voice or act on.

He sent her a small, tired smile back. His sky-blue eyes shining gratefully and full of understanding.

Reluctantly, she removed her hand from his large shoulder and walked towards Vlad, who sat with his hands over his face in frustration in front of the lab computer.

She spoke in a gentle tone as she handed him the bag. “Here you go hun. You have to eat.”

“Thanks…” Vlad murmured as he removed a hand to grab the bag without gazing up.

Jack suddenly spoke out “Maybe you shouldn't eat Vladdie! What if the food upsets the ghost!?”

Maddie sighed as she plopped on a nearby chair. “At this point, Jack, I hope it does. Then we will have a better idea of what’s going on…”

Unable to argue with her logic, Jack became silent, gazing tiredly at the floor.

At Jack and Maddie’s comments, he moved his gaze from the computer to stare at his food bag pensively. 

They had been trying so hard, for hours, to try and summon the ghost, make it come forth or leave his body, all the while conducting tests to see if they could detect the ghost’s contact with him or presence within. All ending in utter and complete failure.

But he couldn’t keep a thought that kept popping into his head. Growing in intensity with each passing failure.

It was impossible. Utterly insane.

But, what if it was true??

He hesitated but for a moment, but finally decided to share the implausible thought that kept haunting his thoughts with his two closest friends. “What if… we are going about this all wrong…”

Maddie and Jack looked at him with curiosity and hope filling their gazes. They had been doing this for so many hours, with absolutely no progress what so ever, no indication the ghost even existed, that any suggestion at this point was a welcome one.

He turned around in his office chair to gaze at the two with a serious expression. “What if…” He took a deep breath. “I am the ghost?”

Silence…

They just stared at him, unblinking.

His cheeks began to redden a bit in embarrassment. ‘Okay… that sounded so much more plausible in my head…’

He opened his mouth in an effort to explain himself. Explain the things he was feeling. What he felt when he was floating in the air.

But he was cut off.

“Vlad…” Maddie interjected, her voice soft and gentle. “We’ve been here for hours and have found nothing. Maybe… Maybe we should take a break and try again later…”

Jack just looked away awkwardly. Gesture indicating that he also didn’t believe what he had said.

He frowned, anger rising at the plain disbelief etches in their faces. Her voice had been laced with pity, dismissing his suggestion easily. Tone treating him like he was some poor helpless, fragile child that was spewing nonsense of a boogeyman he could only see. That wasn’t real!

These were supposed to be his closest friends and allies! Of course they weren’t supposed to just outright believe him, but they didn’t even seem to want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or even hear him out!

He was tired of being treated like some useless, fragile thing that needed caring for. That couldn’t make their own decisions and were expected to just do as their told. There was too much of that in his two month hospital stay. He was finally free from that wretched place, possibly even finally free from his condition only to be continually degraded! He was utterly sick of it!

Part of his reaction was driven by his exhaustion, causing his temper too easily rise, other part was how humiliating the hospital experience had been, and how recent that awful experience still was. He had forgotten for a moment that it had been Jack and Maddie he was speaking to, two people who cared deeply for him and only meant well, not some random scientists that he had to deal with so much in the past.

Because of these things, his mind was livid.

“Fine!!”

He rose suddenly from the desk, tipping the office chair to the ground, and not even caring.

Without even looking at his two friends, he stormed off in a fit of rage.

They hadn’t noticed the glowing neon green eyes that had replaced his sapphire ones.

………………………………

He went for a walk.

A long one.

He wasn’t even aware of how long he had been walking, nor where he was even going.

All of his focus was internal. Anger running through his thoughts. All of the humiliation he has suffered, all of the tests, experiments, the constant ticking sound that still haunted him from time to time.

After a while, his thoughts cooled down a bit, and he began to think instead about how different he really felt since the accident. How he now seemed to be able to distinguish more scents than before, hear things more clearly, louder even, see more details he never noticed before, more sharper than before. He could even see in the dark! He also thought about other changes too. How he not once felt hot in that heavy trench coat yesterday, even though it was bright and sunny. How, even though he used to suck at kinetic movement and was clumsy, his reflexes had been fast enough to catch Maddie before she had fallen back at that diner. 

That odd, constant cold feeling in his chest…

As he continued walking, his thoughts began to move to earlier that morning. When he had woken up after that awful nightmare, only to find himself floating in the air, dressed in strange clothing he had never owned, much less ever saw before, yet seemed so very familiar somehow.

He placed his hand over his chest, where the coldness gathered rather pleasantly. That same cold feeling had been everywhere during that time. Felt like… like it gave him… strength.

Like somehow, it belonged there...

Pulling out of his strange thoughts, he rose his gaze to the sky, startled at what he saw. The sun was high above him. Clearly past noon.

How long had he been walking?!

Lifting his arm, he lowered his gaze to glance at his watch, but raised a brow when he realized that he was still in his white lab coat.

He hadn't even noticed he was still wearing that…

Having stormed out of the lab as he did, he had forgotten to hang the lab coat before he left. And because of that, he was not only dirtying the material, but he was also walking out in the heat of the day with a lab coat on. 

He frowned as another realization struck him.

It was strange, but just like yesterday, he didn’t even feel the heat of the sun. It was sunny, he was wearing a labcoat, and he had been walking for awhile, and yet, he didn’t even feel hot or tired.

In fact, he felt quite chilled, but in a good way. Like he had a portable air conditioner installed inside his body that kept him refreshingly cool...

What time even was it?

‘With the sun so high, it’s not possible for it to still be morning, is it?’

He pulled up the sleeve to gaze at the time, his eyes nearly bulging out as he read the watch. 

*1:56pm*

There had to be some mistake. There had to be! Last time he had seen the clock it was only around 8:30am!

Maybe his watch stopped working last night. Maybe the battery needed replaced. But, the second hand on the clock kept ticking away...

Reaching into his back pocket, he grabbed out his phone. Glancing at the screen, he saw a notification saying he had 6 missed calls and over 10 texts, slightly bringing back his sour mood as he remembered why he had gone for a walk in the first place.

He chose to ignore the notifications and glanced at the time.

*1:57pm*

It was no mistake. He had been walking for over 5 hours!! How in dairy king did he feel like he had just been walking for only 5 minutes?!!

He gazed at his surroundings and realized he was in a part of town he did not recognize, having been walking absentmindedly for hours apparently.

It looked as though he was in some kind of rural area. Dirt road at his feet, large grass fields in nearly every direction, there was a small house in the distance, a collection of trees if you looked far enough to the right.

And where in Amity was he??

Was he even in Amity anymore?

“Sugar Cookies…”

He cursed under his breath as he realized he had no idea where he was. That he had been so consumed with his internal thoughts that he not only lost track of time, but that he had kept walking forward without thinking. Without his body feeling weary, he hadn’t noticed just how far he had traveled.

But thankfully, this was the modern age. And phones were amazing, life saving devices.

Pulling up a digital map and route planner, he plotted a destination from his current location back to Amity University.

And frowned deeply.

The nearest bus stop was a ways away, and the route that connected to a bus line that took him to Amity University was also ways away, as the busses did not travel in straight convenient lines in rural areas…

He widened his eyes as a thought crossed his mind.

It was an impossible idea… but… what if it worked?

What if his theory was true. That he was not possessed, that he was the ghost and he actually could actually change into a ghost?

Then he could just float or fly, like he had last night?!

Excitement began to run through his veins as he glanced around for a quick hiding spot.

Finding a couple of trees that would provide adequate cover, he dashed over, heart moving faster and faster.

Standing between the trees, he gave a double check of his surroundings, to make sure that no one was around to see.

Once satisfied that he was alone, he crouched, closing his hands into fists, and began to concentrate.

‘I am a ghost! I am a ghost!’

Willing his body to change into that form from last night.

Sweat covered his brow as he tensed his body...

But nothing... 

He tried harder, body shaking from the effort, blood forming in his palms from how tight he had his fists clenched.

He felt the cold in his chest give a small throb.

But still nothing…

He clenched his teeth in annoyance. Why wasn’t it working??

A part of him felt stupid. Utterly idiotic that he had actually believe he could somehow ‘turn into’ a ghost. Maybe Jack was right, and last night had really been only a possession...

But thinking about it harder, he realized that maybe his focus should be elsewhere. Maybe in that cold feeling.

Shifting his thoughts, he focussed solely on the feeling of the constant chill in his chest

Then it spread through his whole body.

He barely caught the sudden bright light as the intense, but pleasant, cold washed over him, inside and out.

Glancing down at himself, he saw he was wearing that black lab coat again.

And it finally clicked.

What he had thought was ‘strange attire’ was actually the same green, yellow, and brown clothes he normally wore along with his white lab coat, but in black white and grey. 

But it was obviously more than color changing, as he had been wearing pajamas last night the first time he had transformed…

Wait…

He did it!! He actually transformed at will!!!

“Incredible!!!”

He yelled at the top of his lungs as joy flowed through him. He did a little secret victory dance behind the bushes he hid in. Dancing to the giddy feeling taking hold of him.

He was not possessed, he was the ghost! A flying, pass through walls ghost!

His victory dance finished, his smile widened as thoughts about what he could do passed through his mind at super speed. The scientific breakthroughs on the research of ghosts, the ability to actually feel what those spirits felt personally! The ability to actually fly and pass through walls!

Speaking of…

He lifted his arms in the air in excitement, like superman, and jumped into the air, feeling a rush at the thought of being able to fly like last night!

Only to fall back on his feet from the jump.

He hopped again.

No flight.

His smile faltered slightly. ‘Well… this is going to take some getting used to…’

He cupped his chin pensively. He had been fairly in control last night, but he had been in immediate danger at the time, and his body was reacting more to his will by the instinct of survival. But now that he was not in danger, his instincts were not being very helpful. It was completely up to him to figure it out.

But he had flown! Of that he was completely sure of. And if he could do it once, there must be a way to do it again. He just needed to put his intelligent mind to it and figure out how.

He analyzed how he was able to pull out his ghost form. If transforming into a ghost involved focussing on the feeling of being a ghost, then maybe…

His thoughts shifted from wanting to fly, to the feeling of flight. How his body had felt weightless, the lack of feeling the direction of up and down, body light and unconstrained by gravity…

And he felt his whole body take up that feeling once more, and his black boots slowly lifted from the ground as he began to float upward. 

His grin widened with joy. He was doing it! Actually doing it!

He looked down as he continued to float upwards. Watching the bushes and the tree that had previously hid him grow smaller and smaller. Looking further ahead, he saw the house in the distance also grow smaller. The far open field ending in trees and small buildings in the distance. He could even follow the dirt road he assumed was the way he had walked so far, he could even see it connect to a paved one. 

The view he could see now that he was so far up was incredible!

Once he got to a high enough distance that he was positive no one below could tell he was essentially a flying human, he changed his focus on trying to stop his assent. Having just realized he had not really thought about his inexperience with flight and how dangerous it really was to have flown so high without the confidence of being able to stop.

Fortunately, he was able to cease his upward momentum and float in place.

He heaved a sigh of relief. So happy that he didn’t just continue floating upwards into space.

Now, to head back home…

He leaned forward

And flipped upside down, flipping over and doing an unplanned summersault, only, instead of falling on solid ground, he just kept flipping, again and again.

The world around him spinning around in circles, completely disorienting his sense of direction, causing him to have absolutely no idea which way was left or right, not even which way was up or down…

“Ahhh!!” 

His arms flailed in the air as he tried his damndest to get his bearings. To stop his uncontrolled spinning.

After what seemed like forever, he finally got himself back under control.

Amazingly, after all that spinning he did not feel nausea, nor the need to throw up.

‘Do ghosts even get dizzy?’ He asked himself full of curiosity.

He grinned widely as an earlier thought returned. He is a ghost! There was so much that he could learn, so many questions that he could answer about ghosts based on himself!

Then, a sudden fear crossed his mind. Memories of his treatment in the hospital coming forth. How they had treated him...

He had to be very careful who he talked to about this.

Many corporations and people would want to experiment on him. To capture him and submit him to terrible torture just for science. God knows how they treated him when he just had ecto-acne, a fellow human being. If they believed he was a ghost? There would be no restraint to what they would do to him. There was no way they would believe he was anything but a mindless, dangerous specter, just like all the other ghosts. 

And he was sure he wasn’t.

He did not feel the need to cause trouble, haunt anyone, or possess anyone. As far as they knew, ghosts were evil beings set of causing chaos and havoc on the living. Most likely even fed on human misery.

But, who would believe that he wasn’t evil like the others?

His thoughts traveled to Jack and Maddie. How even though they thought he had been possessed, they did not report it to the company in charge of the paranormal research in the university like they were supposed to. They all feared what might be done to him by outsiders in the effort to expunge the spirit, the current methods being quite dangerous to the human host. Instead, they had decided to try on their own, on their terms.

He could trust Maddie and Jack with his life.

But he would still have to convince them that it was him. That he was not possessed…

He tried moving slowly forward this time. Taking note of every sensation, every movement as he slowly moved.

It took a bit, but he started to get a good handle on it.

Finally more confident, he pressed forward faster, slowly increasing his speed.

“This is beyond incredible!” He yelled out as he dashed forward in the sky, feeling the rush of air flow through his pearl white hair, his ponytail flapping as he dashed through the sky in the direction of Amity University.

Suddenly, something weird happened.

He felt a strange cold sensation crawl up his spine. It was different from his overall cool body temperature, and once it traveled up his neck, it exited out of his mouth in a blue mist.

He paused in mid air, high above the sky, puzzled by the strange feeling.

“Jack lookout!!”

He could have sworn he heard Maddie’s familiar voice somewhere down bellow. Her voice sounded loud and urgent even far away.

Then a huge crash sounded right afterwards.

Fear spread through him as he realized that Maddie was in trouble. 

Glancing down, green eyes searched the ground below in frantic worry. 

Then he hear Jack’s booming voice “Take that!!”

He was now able to pinpoint the direction the sounds and voices were coming from.

In a mad dash, he flew down to an abandoned, old building that looked like a warehouse.

He entered as he heard another crash, and a pained ‘umph’ from Jack.

Glancing in that direction, he saw that Jack was buried beneath a heavy wooden crate.

Movement caught his eyes as he saw Maddie rushing towards the fallen Jack. But instead of helping him out of the crate, she turned, ecto blaster in her hand and pointed it forward.

His gaze followed the direction of her aim, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

It was a tiny fat man, with glowing blue skin, dark blue overalls and a beanie hat. It was just standing there, floating in the air with a mischievous grin.

“A… a ghost?!”

It was the first time he had actually seen one in person, but there was no mistaking that this creature was not human.

“Beware!!” The ghost said to Maddie and dodged one of the blasts from the ecto gun. 

*Thump*

A thumping sound that came from Maddie's direction brought his attention back from the ghost over to his friend. Seeing that a different crate had hit her from behind, knocking her to the ground, her pistol flying from her hands.

“Maddie!” He dashed over in her direction, worried that she might be injured.

He kneeled beside her, hearing her groans as she rose to her hands and knees. He steadied her rise by holding her arm and wrapping his other had across her slender waist. “Are you hurt??”

Her eyes snapped open, recognizing Vlads voice immediately. But she immediately frowned once she saw him, and stumbled backwards, away from his touch.

He raised a brow in confusion at her actions. He might be all glowy and have strange attire on, but she should still be able to recognize him, right?

He then thought back to Jack’s reaction to him last night. His large friend had not recognized him either.

Was it more than just his clothes that was different when he transformed??

“I am the Box Ghooost!” An overly dramatic, ghost like voice yelled from behind them. “Ghost of all things squaaare!!”

He raised a brow at the ghost. He figured ghosts were supposed to be scary, but the voice of this ghost was anything but…

The ghost looked right back at him and asked, still in his strange ‘ghostly voice’. “Whooo might you beee?”

He blinked a couple of times as he just stared, dumbfounded.

The sound of busttling came to his left and he saw Jack emerge from under the crate that had previously held him down.

The box ghost raised his hands in the air, many crates suddenly rose from the floor of the abandoned warehouse and began to hover in the air.

Immediately, he took a stance in front of Maddie and Jack, hands in fists and teeth clenched.

This may be a funny sounding and strange looking ghost, but as the floating boxes proved, he was still a dangerous one.

He paid little attention to Jack’s surprised exclamation behind him as he continued to focus on the enemy in front of him.

The ghost tilted his head in slight confusion at the protective pose Vlad took in front of the humans. “Whaaaat are you doooiiiinng??”

Well, at least the ghost didn’t out right attack him… Maybe since he's a ghost too in this form he can reason with it.

Mustering the most stern, intimidating, and authoritative voice he could, he replied. “You are not to harm these humans. Are we clear?”

The ghost raised it’s brow in surprise. Then, brows furrowed in anger. “You don’t tell meee what to doooo!! I am the Boooox Ghoooost!!”

And he was assaulted with all the floating boxes, hitting him square on as he tried to be a shield to the friends behind him.

Jack’s eyes widened as he saw the ghost that possessed Vlad get knocked down by multiple crates, afraid that the host Vlad might have been hurt.

He raised his ecto gun in anger. “Wrong move ghost!!!” And shot at the short blue specter.

Maddie was weirded out that Jack got so worked up over that other ghost getting knocked down, though not as weirded out as she had been when that same ghost had seemed to stand in front of them to in a protective stance.

She dashed over to where her pistol had fallen and did a cartwheel, grabbing the gun and shooting at the blue ghost with box powers.

Vlad could hear the sounds of the ecto guns as he was buried beneath the many crates. The crushing weight pinning him down and making it impossible for him to rise.

Then, a sudden thought caused him to groan at his own incompetence. He would have totally facepalmed himself had his arms not been pinned at the moment.

He could go through walls, why not through crates?

Closing his eyes, he began to concentrate on losing his form. Different from feeling weightless, this feeling was more like not existing in the physical plane, rather than not being tied to the forces of gravity.

The crushing weight on his body began to disappear as he began to phase through the crates.

It was an incredibly strange and disconcerting feeling. He didn’t feel like he was there, yet he was…

He focused on flying upward, as well as holding on to the intangibility. Once out from underneath all of those crates, he regained his physical form.

He had little time to contemplate on the miracle of physics he just performed as he heard a loud gasp.

He looked in the direction to see Maddie and Jack unarmed and cornered, the box ghost poised and ready to strike them with the crates that floated beside the tiny ghost.

Then, it happened.

He didn’t know how, or what exactly, but something inside him snapped.

Seeing his friends in mortal danger caused immediate panic and desperation. An warm energy he never felt before sparked in his chest, traveling forcefully from his where his heart should be, down his arms and stopped at his hands. The energy gathering in his palm that swayed madly in his veins.

On instinct alone, he raised his hand in the direction of the one who dared hurt his friends, and a green beam shot out of his palm. 

The ghost howled in pain when the beam struck his small form, the force knocking the box ghost to the wall, smoke rising from a charred mark.

Jack and Maddie gasped as they watched Vlad fly in front of them to stand between them and the fallen ghost protectively once more.

He rose the same hand that the beam had come from and pointed it at the ghost. He could feel that same energy swishing at his palm, as more energy from his chest flowed to his hands. “Leave now, ghost!”

The box ghost looked fearful this time as he rose from the floor. “Alriiight! You have woooon thiiiis time. But I’ll be baaaack!”

The ghost then floated in the air, then suddenly shouted: “BEWARE!!!”

The sudden action startling Vlad, causing him to fire another blast at the ghost that sent him flying again. This time the tiny specter flew right through the wall. 

He took only a brief pause to glance at the smoking green mist that was on his hand, like smoke from a fired gun, then, he jogged over to where the ghost had been blasted through and looked around.

The ghost was nowhere to be found.

He sighed in relief. His friends were safe.

His body stiffened as he heard the sound of a charging ecto-gun behind him.

Speaking of friends…

He turned around slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements so they would not shoot him.

“No Maddie!”

Jack paced his hand on the top of Maddie’s ghost-zapper, making her her lower the gun she was pointing in his direction.

“Jack have you gone mad! It’s a ghost!!”

The big man shook his head at her, then turned to look in his direction. “That’s the ghost we’ve been looking for. The one who possessed Vlad.”

Maddie gasped and looked back in his direction in surprise.

Vlad lifted his hands in a submissive gesture, but saw them both flinch and raise their weapons once more.

Realizing his mistake (considering he can fire beams through the palms of his hands, so the gesture was far from submissive...) he quickly lowered them. “I am not going to hurt either of you.” He said as calmly and as friendly as he could.

After a brief moment of hesitation, they finally lowered their weapons, still glancing at him wearily.

He took in their dirt covered clothes and disheveled appearance from their battle with the box ghost and he frowned in worry. 

“Are either of you hurt?”

They continued to eye him wearily, but shook their heads in the negative.

He sighed in relief.

Maddie was very confused by this ghost’s behavior. First it seemed to protect them, shot one of his own species, and now is worried about their well being??

“Excuse us a moment.”

She pulled Jack aside, still facing the ghost ready to shoot should it make one wrong move.

She lowered her voice to a whisper. “What do you think, Jack?”

Out of the three, Jack was the expert on the actual ghosts themselves. He had extensive knowledge about possible haunting locations, different types ghosts, their behavior.

If anyone could understand what was the angle of this ghost, it was him.

Jack had not moved his gaze from the ghost possessing Vlad as she had pulled him aside. 

Truth be told, he was not sure what he thought.

Nearly all literature and study painted ghosts as evil and vile creatures who only existed to antagonize the living. Many drew strength from the terror brought on the living. Never had any of his research findings indicated there were any ‘friendly’ ghosts. They only things that ever mentioned such a thing were children's stories and were completely without any scientific backing.

But this ghost, this ghost that possessed Vlad somehow seemed… benevolent.

Of the written accounts of possessed humans, there was perhaps one person who was supposedly able to influence the ghost’s actions to a minor degree. But by all accounts the person had been an incredibly strong willed person with rigorous mental training, having been a high ranked monk. And even so, the influence had been to the extent that the ghost possessing the man had spoken with the calmes that was iconic in the host. Nothing major.

And Vlad obviously did not have this kind of training, but if this was a similar case, than maybe Vlad had some minimal influence on this ghost. Vlad’s strong friendship and care for their safety influencing the possessed ghost and causing it to protect them.

If that was the case, they should be able to get Vlad’s help in extricating the ghost from his body.

He sent Maddie a big smile, proud of his best friend’s strong will. “The V-Man is influencing the ghost’s actions!”

Vlad facepalmed. His ghost hearing far sharper than any human’s, allowing him to clearly hear everything they said easily.

“Vlaady! Can you hear meee??” Jack yelled at him in a slowed voice, as though he were deaf.

He removed the hand from his face, beginning to lose patience with his two friends. “Yes Jack! For the umpteenth time, I am the ghost!” 

Just how many times would he have to explain himself?? How to make them understand?

He watched Maddie’s Amethyst eyes lock with his with a challenging gaze. “Prove it.” Maddie challenged sternly. “Change back.”

Vlad straightened, blinking.

Changing into the ghost involved tapping into the chill that was in his chest. The chill that was ever present.

But, how did he change back?

Now that he thought about it, there was no place in his body that felt warm. Nothing he could easily grasp to reduce the coldness that belonged to this form. That cold feeling was all encompassing, and he had no idea how to reduce it in the least.

He frowned.

“Butter biscuits…”

Jack and Maddie looked at him with stunned reactions. There was only one person in this world or the next that would curse using the name of sweets or food…

“Vlad???” They both said, utterly floored.

“Yes?” Vlad responded without looking at them, he was only half listening, still ruminating about his current predicament of not knowing a way to change back to human.

He did snap his attention to them when they suddenly appeared beside him, and began to touch him in awe.

“How is this possible??” Maddie asked as she gently touched the sleeve of his black lab coat.

Jack on the other hand, was anything but gentle…

“Aaah!!” Vlad exclaimed as his arm was nearly ripped out of its socket by a rough tug, big hands holding his arm and moving him around like a lifeless doll as the other looked him over from multiple angles.

Since Vlad was pulled out of her grasp, Maddie decided to instead pull out one of the ghost detector machine and scanned him from multiple angles, marking and noting the different readings on the device.

A rather violent jerk had him bending over, and a big rough hand messed with his hair, effectively pulling it out of its neat ponytail. “Incredible!” Jack shouted. “Your hair is so soft and white!”

Straightening indignantly, he moved away from the guy who was manhandling him. “Thanks, Jack…” He said flatly, glaring at the larger man while he tried to fix the mess the other made of his hair. Suddenly realizing the strange feel that was his hair in this form as he ran his fingers through the strands.

He had always had stiff, thick hair. Hard to brush, and rough to the touch. It was always a pain when he had to try and straighten it out in the morning, always bent out of shape and never wanting to cooperate in the slightest. But this… 

His fingers glided effortlessly through silky smooth hair. The strands moving almost like water to his touch, not a tangle in sight, even after the battle and Jack’s rough handling.

He stopped marveling at his hair suddenly when he felt his hand brush a smaller one, a jade blush beginning to tint his cheeks.

“Hhmm… You’re right Jack. His hair is much softer than normal.”

Bashfully, he lowered both his hands and leaned a bit into Maddie’s soft touch as she gently combed his hair with her slender fingers. Only half noting the pure white strands that was now his hair falling down to his eyes as he leaned forward. If she liked his hair in that form…

Sooner than he would have liked, that hand was gone. He straightened and met her eyes. Her gaze firm and full of concern. “We should head back to the paranormal lab and perform some test to make sure this isn’t hurting you. Are you able to change back to normal?”

He wanted to say yes. To impress her with his quick-learning abilities, and see that worried frown disappear. To reassure her with his actions rather than words. But truth was, he had absolutely no clue how to turn back.

With a disappointed sigh, he shook his head in the negative. She frowned further with worry.

*Slap*

He stumbled forward and felt a sharp pain shoot up his back from Jack’s slap. “Don’t you worry, V-Man! We will get you back to normal in no time!”

Straightening, he rubbed his shoulder in an attempt to ease the pain, frowning. Jack sometimes did not know his own strength, but regardless, Vlad knew that he always meant well.

…………………………………..

Vlad had returned with Jack and Maddie to the University, sneaking in the back and doing his best to avoid detection as they headed to the paranormal lab. It was a Saturday, and generally no one tended to use the lab on the weekends besides them, but it was not always the case. Sometimes some paranormal major’s had a big project, or a capstone to work on that required a lot of extra time, so they still had to be careful to make sure the coast was clear.

They locked the door once they were inside the lab to make sure that they would not be disturbed, and if anybody did try to enter, they would hear the door and have advanced warning.

“Okay…” Maddie took out a pen and paper, gesturing for Vlad and Jack to sit at nearby chairs. “Tell us everything you are feeling right now, including how you transformed.”

Closing his eyes he focussed on what it felt like to be a ghost. “Well… I feel oddly, cold. But it is not an unpleasant feeling. On the contrary, it feels quite refreshing and invigorating...” He lifted his hand and placed it at the center of his chest. “This is where it feels like the cold originates from. It feels like it pulses, not unlike a heart, but the rhythm and feeling is different.”

He opened his eyes and saw with amusement that Maddie and Jack were writing furiously down on their notebooks, taking as much notes as they could. For the past two months since the incident, he had been interviewed many times and it still felt kind of strange to be the one interviewed, as he was used to be the researcher when they would ask individuals affected by the paranormal occurrences.

Though, obviously other people’s experiences with ghosts were not even close to being this intimate…

But it felt different to be interviewed by Maddie and Jack. Because they could easily get the information from other researchers, his friends had not asked him about his ecto acne. He imagined they were trying to not violate his privacy more than was already being violated by the other scientists. It had sucked to be the interviewee of such questions by those scientist, but being interviewed like this by them, was actually pleasant. It was nice to see the immense interest that he could spark in his two scientific friends.

He waited as they finished writing to continue. “It is odd, but I do not require the need to breathe. I only take breath in order to speak, and I seem to be able to store air in my lungs until I need to speak.” He thought back to his fight with the ghost that controlled boxes. “Or I involuntarily let out a grunt. Hmmnn… I am curious if that is normal for ghosts or could that be a habitual reaction that originates from my human part…”

Jack and Maddie did not interrupt his train of thought. They just waited for him to think until he was ready to move on, telling them everything he could remember, feel, or do. He also told them the strange things that sometimes happened to him at the hospital. How he transformed for the first time in the dorm, how he did it voluntarily later.

Everything that may be useful, and even things that did not seem so useful at the moment.

He answered all of their questions to the best of his abilities. Unfortunately, there were many questions he was unable to answer. Just because he could change into a ghost, it did not mean that he knew about ghost secrets. Also, this was only the first time he had transformed...

After the long interview, they moved to perform tests and examinations. 

Unlike the first time in his human form, this time the readings indicated without a doubt a positive reading for ecto-contamination.

In fact, there was absolutely no trace of any human left in Vlad at all…

This was really disconcerting for the three of them, especially for Vlad. Even though this was not the first time he had changed into a ghost, Vlad could not help but fear that it may be permanent this time because there was nothing to indicate he was ever human. No matter what tests they performed.

He might be stuck like this, for the rest of his afterlife…

That thought alone gave him a heavy push to try and transform back. He tried everything he could think of: concentration, focussing on the feeling he could remember about being alive, forcing himself to breath constantly as if he needed oxygen, he even resorted to praying in his head…

They all failed.

Maddie ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “You are certain that you do not feel some warmth that you can latch on to?”

Vlad sighed. Though he hadn’t the last times he tried, having no better alternative, he tried again. “...No…”

Jack once again offered a solution. “I could just shoot you with the ecto gun a few times like last time.” 

Vlad frowned. They had come up with that idea before, since it seemed to work last time, but they dismissed it as something they would try only if they got desperate.

He glanced at the clock: *7:15 pm*

Which admittedly, he was starting to become desperate.

A thought suddenly occurred to him. He realized that Maddie nor Jack had not had any dinner. Not only that, he remembered they also had told him that they did not have lunch either.

Because they had gone and searched madly for him when he hadn’t returned their texts or calls...

He felt guilt hit him at the pit of his stomach for worrying his friends so. And it was obviously guilt he felt, since he had not experienced hunger while in this ghost form. Jack and Maddie should be starving by this point!

He bit his lips, feeling contrite that he had been so preoccupied about his own problem that he failed to be attentive to his friend’s needs. Friends who were working tirelessly to help solve his problem. 

Vlad sighed. “Why don’t you two grab something to eat? It is getting late and you two have not eaten a thing since breakfast.”

They gave him worried glances, but did not put up any resistance to the idea.

He smiled at them reassuringly. “I will remain in the lab until you two return.”

Both gave a reluctant sigh, but they rose to leave nonetheless.

He watched them leave, waving with a reassuring smile when they glanced back to him at the door. Once they were gone, Vlad decided to take advantage of their absence to work on his ghost laser (or whatever it was).

He walked down into the fortified room attached to the lab. 

The room was supposed to be a foundation to hold captive ghosts when the research on ghosts advanced enough to the point to be able to actually hold a ghost captive. All walls, including the ceiling, were made of the sturdiest metal known to man. The only section of glass was the viewing area that connected directly to the lab.

His shoes echoed in the large empty space as he walked towards the center. The only sound in the otherwise silent room. Once he was far enough away from the walls, he crouched in a defensive stance.

Raising a palm, he shot out an ecto beam at the wall.

The wall easily withstood the attack, not a scratch on the surface.

Grinning triumphantly, he began to blast away at many different areas, targeting invisible foes, unable to contain the excited rush that surged through him as the energy surged through his body, the center of his chest pulsed rapidly, feeding that exhilarating feeling.

During the earlier testing, he had been holding back, afraid that Maddie and Jack might feel slightly fearful towards him.

But now he could go all out. 

He rose sharply to the air twisting to avoid an invisible, non existent shot, and used both hands to fire at the wall in a more powerful blast. 

His body could twist fairly easily in this form. No longer was he held back by stiff inflexible joints as he somersaulted and twisted. Hell, not even gravity could hold him back!

It was incredible what he could do! He felt so powerful! So unstoppable!

He lost track of time as he continued testing his new body and the things he could do. Feeling the how the spark of energy fluctuated, the cold feeling become even stronger as he pulled forth his inhuman strength, flexibility, and power.

Then he paused his training, suddenly realizing something.

His power fluctuates and is not constant, he can almost control its intensity by will. If the blasts from the ecto gun caused him to revert to human form because they weakened his ghost body, then maybe…

He floated down to the floor, eyes closed. 

Focussing on his pulsing power, he tried to control the intensity of the energy from within. 

He began to feel the cold heat up slowly.

Then, he was startled by the sudden intense cold that hit his midsection, immediately crawling buth upwards and downwards as a bright light engulfed him entirely.

Then, the intense cold was gone.

“You did it!” 

“Way to go V-Man!!!”

Came the excited voices of Maddie and Jack through the speakerphone of the room that connected to the lab.

Vlad jumped in shock and quickly looked their way, surprised to see them standing there.

He grew worried. Just how much had they seen??

“How…” He started. “How long have you two been watching?”

“For a while now.”

He flinched a Maddie’s sharp tone and her deep frown. She was clearly pissed that he had been holding back during their testing.

Raising a hand, he rubbed the back of his neck, having been caught red handed. “Ahh… I see…”

Maddie then sighed, unable to stay mad at him. “Just get back up here. We will run a few short tests to make sure you're okay. Then we will get some sleep and come back tomorrow.”


	7. Coming Together

A few weeks had passed since Vlad discovered he could transform at will. Not only did he practice his new ghost abilities with the help of Jack and Maddie, but he also used his ghost abilities and form to help test their invented devices. It proved very helpful to test the many electronic scanners and ghost weakeners when they had access to a real live (well, not really alive) ghost. 

They even found out that Vlad had a really useful ability to detect nearby ghosts signatures, activating in the form of a blue mist that came out of his mouth whenever a ghost was nearby. Using this natural ghost detection ability, he would fly around in his spare time and locate ghosts around the city. 

While Maddie and Jack were ecstatic and discussed how they could also use this to improve ghost hunting and extermination, a part of Vlad was greatly conflicted.

Having met the Box Ghost on that day, left him with doubts and questions. All current literature on ghosts painted them as evil malignant beings bent only on causing misery and dissention. But even though the exchange with the small blue ghost man was brief, he did not feel ‘pure malice’ from the specter. 

He would even go as far to say that maybe that the box powered ghosts could be reasoned with.

As he listened to Maddie and Jack talk excitedly about finding a ways to disable, capture, or exterminate ghosts gave Vald hesitancy. After a great deal of inner debate and thought, he decided not to voice his opinion. He felt that they would not understand his feelings regarding the possibility that ghosts were maybe not so evil as everyone thought they were, and would just dismiss it.

So, behind their backs, he decided to do more than just mark in a digital map the locations of the ghosts. He started seeking them out to try and talk with them.

Only to end in miserable failure.

All the ghosts he encountered around the city were… uncivilized...

Aside from the eccentric and odd Box Ghost he had first encountered that day, all of the other ghosts were generally shapeless blobs. Some even appearing like the comical ‘sheet’ style ghosts. None of these strange formless ghosts seemed to speak a grain of English or even any other language besides making haunting screeches or wails. No matter how much he tried, Vlad couldn't establish any form of communication with these ghosts. When that failed, he began to try nonverbal communication, trying hand signals. He even resorted to carrying pictures with him in an attempt to establish some form of dialogue…

But no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to work. The shapeless ghosts didn’t even seem to care or even understand that he was trying to communicate with them. Only seeming to want to attack him or terrorize the civilians. So he stopped trying. Instead focussing on scaring them off with his ecto-blasts.

He would sometimes get a few injuries, from his battles with the shapeless beings, but they were very minor and his enhanced healing abilities had him as good as new in a few hours.

Regardless of his growing frustrations, he continued to try with every ghost he met. When communication failed, he would just scare them out of the city.

………………………..

Vlad kept growing stronger as Maddie and Jack helped him hone his abilities. It now took very little effort to fly, float, become intangible, and invisible. His ecto-blasts also improved from what they were before. He now had a fairly good control of the blast intensity, depending how much damage he wanted to cause to a specific area, and his accuracy improved significantly. 

It was late at night. Vlad, Jack, and Maddie were now in the paranormal lab, working on a ghost device that, once finished, would be able to amplify the shock of an ecto gun.

Though they worked on ghost-related tech, they sat in silence. All three wearing very frustrated and annoyed expressions.

It was not even close to what they wanted to be working on at the moment…

A Microchip in hand as he sat at the electronic desk, Vlad covertly glanced to his left and glared at the three other college students present in the lab, working on their own projects.

‘How bloody long does it take you dolts to be able to calibrate the frequency of the radio waves!’ He remarked internally, completely out of patience for the people who would just not leave the lab.

It was ironic, really. Normally he would be proud that there were other students spending extra time in the lab. The paranormal field was expanding, and the more people working on the science of ghost study, the more scientific advancement of the field can be achieved.

But now, the people in the lab were a nuisance, even if it was an unintentional one.

Because this was the time he would be training his ghost powers.

They would use the university’s paranormal lab in secrecy late at night, which was generally empty, as no one tended to be in the school building at this hour. 

But sometimes, like today, they weren’t so lucky to have the lab completely to themselves. University finals was approaching, so many students had extra homework or final projects to finish, which generally took a lot more time in effort, causing students to stay at school longer than usual.

Vlad sighed, noticing that the device the three students had in their hands was far from calibrated.

Leaning in to where Jack and Maddie sat, he whispered low, so only they could hear. “We need to figure out a way to solve this problem…”

He didn’t even need to be specific, knowing full well that they knew what he was talking about and knowing they were just about as frustrated with their situation as he was.

Maddie let out a long frustrated sigh. “I completely agree, Vlad, but I really don’t see how-”

“That's it!!” 

Vlad and Maddie glaned at Jack, startled by his sudden outburst.

Jack just grinned at the two of them with a big smile. Then, he leaped up and turned to dash out of the lab, shouting on his way out; “Let’s go!”

Vlad and Maddie shared a very confused look, then dashed off behind their excited friend, leaving the lab.

……………………………….

“Well, Whatcha think?”

Jack stood, arms wide in a gesture to show off the impressively large basement below his parent’s house, about a 25 minute drive from Amity University.

It was huge! There was ample space for them to have multiple sections (aworkstation to create electronics, area for finished electronics, area for ghost power training, and space to spare!). There was lots of shelves to place stuff on, a few locked cabinets to place the more secretive stuff. Multiple outlets to connect different gadgets and devices, they didn’t have to worry about other students using any equipment there, did not have to worry about inspections. The only windows were really small ones and the only entrance was the stairs they had walked down, perfect for privacy.

In short, it was perfect!

“Jack! This is perfect!!” Maddie squealed in excitement as she suddenly jumped and embarrassed Jack in a sudden rush of excitement.

She tore herself from the big man as she suddenly realized that Vlad was with them and she glanced at him worriedly. She gave a small sigh in relief as Vlad hadn’t noticed, as he was too busy gazing around at the room and pondering the possibilities, a smile etched on his face.

Vlad took note of all of the boxes and junk currently occupying the room and turned to Jack with a worried expression. “Are you certain your parents will allow us to use their basement for our equipment?”

Jack gave a beaming smile. “Sure thing!”

Vlad wasn’t fully convinced. It was a bit too good to be true, but Jack has always come through before, so he had no real reason to doubt him.

He started feeling elated. This was actually going to work! They would no longer have to worry about the university, its students, professors, or the sponsoring company! Here, they would be able to do what they wanted without having to report to anyone or constantly fear the outcome of not reporting what they were supposed to! They would have to build their own equipment, of course, but it would be theirs! No one else's!

Maddie grabbed a nearby box. “Well then, shall we clear up some space?”

……………………………………………………

It was difficult to find enough time during finals to fix up the place, but once finals was over, they had spent nearly the entire summer setting up shop in the basement of the Fenton house. They wanted this to be secretive, and by no means be controlled by any outside entities, so the they had to procure the money themselves. 

Luckily, not only were Jack’s parents kinda loaded (though they insisted on living a moderate lifestyle), they supported their son’s ghost study endeavor, and they would give them money for the remodeling and equipment they needed and also paid the electricity bills.

Their personal lab not only privately to their use alone and accessible during summer vacation, but it was also conveniently only 25 minutes away from the university dorms, only 5 by ghost flight. So, once college started up for the trio, it wouldn’t be too far away to access it.

For the first time, Vlad was happy that neither he nor his parents had enough money to afford a trip to visit his family for the summer, because now he was fully able to work on the basement, his powers, and keep ghosts away from Amity. He stayed with Jack in the Fenton home for the summer, like he did years prior.

It was really fortunate that Jack’s parents liked him. Jack never had trouble making friends with his friendly personality, but he had trouble keeping real friends with his eccentricity, so his parents were more than happy that Vlad was such a good friend to Jack and they treated him like a second son.

They had unfortunately lost Maddie for two months, since she left to visit her family out of State, but they managed to get the place together without her presence, though they maintained contact through phone calls and video chats, Maddie still helping however she could from where she was.

Also unfortunately, Vlad had yet to find another ghost who he could communicate with. All he found was the unintelligible, savage formless blobs...

As summer neared its end, Vlad packed his things from the guest room of the Fenton house with a bit of sadness and nostalgia. He couldn’t wait for the start of the new school year. 

The Fenton’s did everything they could to make him feel at home, but it still was not his house, nor his family. He missed his mom and dad, and being around a family atmosphere only made him miss them even more.

He missed his mother’s gentle smile, her warm embrace. Waking up in the morning and smelling his favorite meal, his mother’s secret recipe. Smell her homemade cookies in the evening.

He also missed his dad’s intelligence, and his calm, kind demeanor. They would talk for hours on the porch, the elder always providing valuable pearls of wisdom. 

A sigh escaped him as he glanced at his family picture with a longing expression. The picture showed him in the middle of the three figures, to his left, a brunette older woman, and an elder thin haired man to his right. A happy smile on all their faces as they posed for the camera.

At least he would be able to visit them for the christmas season, as he did every year. 

A fond, loving smile tugged at his lips. Even though his family was with low means, they would always be able to afford a round trip plane ticket so he could visit them all the way to Florida.

But that was over half a year away at this point. So, for now, he placed the picture in the box he packed for his return to dorm life at the university.

He picked up another photo, glancing at it not only with longing, but with admiration as well.

Not only would living in the dorms once more remove him from the nostalgic family atmosphere, but he would be able to see the one he missed the most.

Maddie.

He touched the photo gently. Caressing the feminine figure that stood happily beside them, her smile bright and violet eyes twinkling in the picture.

“Vladdie!” 

He jumped as Jack entered the room unexpectedly, placing the picture inside the box with lightning speed, hoping the other didn’t notice.

But thankfully, not only did the big guy not notice the sudden action, he also failed to notice his nervous behaviour.

“Ready to go?!” Jack asked full of excitement.

Vlad smiled. Jack was always so cheerful. 

He nodded.

………………………………………………

The dorm building was fairly quiet even after they had moved back in. They timed their move-in so they were one of the first students to begin filling the rooms. It was over a week before classes began, and they wanted to get a bit of a head start on certain projects using the university equipment. Even with the lab they built in the Fenton’s basement, the equipment they had was not nearly as advanced as the university’s paranormal lab, the money they got from Jack’s parents was nowhere near the funds that a company sponsor could afford. So they took advantage of the university lab before other students began to use it as well.

Maddie had also returned early, so the three worked constantly in the lab and hang out together during breaks. 

One evening, as the three walked the halls of the university after having eaten dinner, Vlad’s ghost sense went off.

He paused suddenly,.

Maddie, having noticed that Vlad was no longer walking next to them, turned around. She frowned as she noticed him gazing around looking tense. “Vlad, is everything alright?”

Vlad locked his gaze with hers, expression serious. “I’ll meet you two in the lab. There is a ghost nearby.” With that, he took his last needed breath as white rings formed around his waist as the pleasant cold feeling enveloped his body, transforming him into a ghost.

Even though he had transformed many times already, it was still hard to get used to not needing to breathe, or how his heart stopped beating.

Floating into the air with ease, he dashed forward and out of sight. 

Jack and Maddie just gazed at each other. A devious, excited smirk of anticipation on their faces.

…………….

Vlad began to phase into room after room of the science building, determined to search every room of the building if necessary to find the trespassing ghost. He didn’t know why, but he somehow felt aggravated that a ghost would try to haunt the university. 

I mean, how dare a shapeless, measly ghost appear here of all places. There were many other places the ghost could choose to go. Business offices, empty houses, forests, warehouses... The possibilities were endless. The world was a huge place. 

But no. The ghost had the audacity to come here. This was his home after all. His university! 

The *clinking* sound of a file cabinet closing tore him from his possessive thoughts catching his attention. Immediately he flew in the direction of the sound.

In the dark hallway, the brightness of a room light lit the small glass window of a metal door. Inside, he could hear paper’s russling. 

He knew what was in that door. The archive room. 

Doubting that anyone would be searching the documents of the University at this hour, he concluded that the ruckus must be the invading ghost.

He didn’t hesitate to go intangible and fly through the room. Once inside however, he stopped dead in his tracks, turning tangible once more as he gapped at what he saw.

A giant centipede-like ghost with many appendages and long thin body was rummaging through a metal file cabinet door, grabbing papers with its crab-like claws, gazing at some papers and placing them in a large brown bag that was tied to its back. Its large green bug eyes gazed intently at the pages, two antennas bobbing as it quickly determined which to keep and which to toss.

Normally, he would charge at the ghost, firing an ecto-blast and running it from the area.

But this ghost seemed very different than the ones he had encountered before. Unlike the small shapeless form he often saw, this one was not only large, but seemed to carry a very different demeanor than the unintelligible beasts. Gazing at the large green centipede, he could almost swear that it was reading the papers it held up to its face with it’s large green with yellow spotted eyes. 

Excitement began to course through his ectoplasmic veins as he silently watched the creature take another age from the metal cabinet file and place it in the large brown bag it carried on its back.

Maybe… just maybe, this one was intelligent like the first one they had come across.

He composed himself and stood straight. “Ahem…” He cleared his throat deliberately, hoping to gain the specter’s attention.

It certainly worked…

 

 

Large green eyes snapped in his direction, antenna straightening as the creature ceased its task.

Well, now he had it’s attention time to see if this interesting looking specter could indeed communicate.

Vlad gave a friendly, yet hopeful smile and began to speak. “Uh, I am-”

“I do not care who you are, ghost.” The creature snapped suddenly in a raspy resonating tone, immediately interrupting him. “I am Cetep, and his majesty has declared this to be my territory once I eliminate all opposing ghosts within.” Large ghostly green orbs flashed warningly, raspy voice lowering an octave. “If you value your existence, I suggest you find another territory to call your own.”

And like that, the ghost turned it’s round head and resumed rummaging through the papers in the metal drawer, soundly ignoring him like he was part of the decoration.

Vlad’s jaw dropped. He had been dismissed before, but never in his life had he been dismissed so bluntly like he was worth no more than trash.

‘Who does this insect think he is?!’

He grounded his teeth as he tried to control his rising anger. More than a little miffed at the ghost’s rudeness. 

It was the first time he encountered a ghost he could actually communicate with beside the ghost who could control boxed that one time, but he wasn’t going to stand to be treated so rudely. “Listen, Cetep. I don’t know who this ‘majesty’ of yours is, but neither of you have any business here!” Green ecto-energy glowed around his hands, his neon green eyes glowing warningly. “So, take your long insect behind and hightail it out of here!”

Cetep suddenly stopped rummaging through papers, and very slowly turning it’s large glowing green eyes in his direction. “You will regret speaking to me that way boy.”

Barely having finished the last word, the insect-ghost was dashing toward him at lightning speed. 

Vlad barely had any time to think as his body reacted on instinct, swiftly jumping to the side, effectively dodging the creature's claws. 

He fired an ecto-blast at Cetep, but the creature twisted its body in an unnatural form to avoid the blast. 

The devious smirk on the creature’s beak told Vlad that it wasn’t even a question that it would have dodged the blast. 

‘Okay… Time to step it up a notch…’

He flew up into the air and began to throw blast after blast at the creature, frustration rising as the creature just twisted and twisted, long form stretching to impossible limits as he continued firing in vain.

A laugh emanated from the ghost, the small confines of the room only serving to increase the echo of the maniacal sound emanating from its beaks.

“My turn.” It declared joyously. 

Vlad brassed for the attack, ready to move out of the way, but there was no way he knew to prepare for what the beast did next.

Maintaining its twisted form that filled nearly half of the room, it raised its many appendages. With a manic smile, Cetep fired rapid shots from every limb, covering nearly the entire area. 

There was no way to dodge it!

He yelped painfully as the shots hit multiple areas of his body. Thin lasers piercing his skin and exiting out the other end.

Unable to dodge the barrage of shots, he quickly jumped behind one of the file cabinets for cover, leaning his back against the metal as he tried to get his bearings back, while ignoring the searing, burning pain from the multiple tiny holes throughout his body. 

His ears rang with the sound of the lazers tapping on the metal as they struck the metal file cabinet he was hiding against, the sound reminding him of little pebbles hitting metal. He knew that his respite would be brief. There was no way that the metal would withstand those kinds of hits for long. 

Thankfully, the shots stopped.

He made to move and the pain in multiple parts of his body intensified, feeling like multiple stab wounds from lots of syringe needles stuck in him. 

Just how many did he get hit with?

He gazed down at himself in worry, only to have it double upon seeing lines of ecto-plasma leaking from multiple painful areas. There were many areas around his black coat, grey shirt, and white pants were his ghostly green blood stained his clothes. And if the many lines of green that leaked out of his body were any sort of indication, he had more than 10 tiny wounds in different areas...

Choosing to push his worry and pain aside, he focussed on the present, knowing his enemy was still in the room. Lifting his hands, he readied an ecto-blast, charging it with as much power he could muster. Ignoring the even sharper pain of movement, he pushed himself from the file cabinet and turned to face-

Nothing…

He raised a brow in confusion as he gazed around the room, unable to spot the centipede ghost.

“You are bad at this, aren't you?”

He turned only for it to be too late, as the slender form of Cetep coiled around his body like a snake and squeezed tightly.

“Ahhrg!!” The charged blasts dissipated amidst the crushing pain. His multiple wounds throughout his body stinging even more at the suffocating pressure.

As the pain began to override his mind, he forced himself to go intangible in an effort to slip through the crushing grasp.

Only, it did not work.

Cetep laughed heartily as his coiled his body tighter on his victim. “My, my, my. You are a baby, aren’t you?” He mocked. “Intangibility does not function on ghosts, you dolt.”

He squeezed even tighter, hearing the pleasant sound of groaning bones. 

Vlad struggled as fiercely as he could, but try as he might, he could not break free.

His vision began to wane as he felt his body being crushed. 

Suddenly, he felt the body coiled around him shake violently, releasing him from its clutches as he dropped to the floor with a painful thud.

As the blurriness in his vision cleared, he heard a familiar voice.

“Take that you vile ghost!!”

He barely recognized Jack's voice as he saw flashes of ecto-shots from the opposite of the room. 

‘Jack?? What is Jack doing here!’ 

Movement to his right gave him the indication that Maddie was also there.

He began to panic. They’ve tested the ecto-guns during their experimentation, and he knew well that the power of the energy blasts were nowhere near powerful enough to go against a ghost as strong as this one seemed to be.

Shakily, he forced himself to rise, ignoring the immense pain that shot through his body in protest.

His gaze affixed on his two friends and he paused in confusion. They were dressed rather… strangely…

 

 

Jack was almost completely covered in an orange jumpsuit as he fired away, even his hair was covered by the attire, he also sported blue round goggles that covered his eyes. In his black gloves he carried a ‘C’ shaped gun, a weapon he did not recognized. 

Maddie was just as strangely dressed, although her jumpsuit was light blue and her goggles were red. To his amazement, she carried a large heavy looking gun, which she impressively held like it weighed less than a magnum.

He was snapped from his stupor when he heard the creature hissed in displeasure behind him. 

The creature was extending himself, avoiding the blasts from the ecto-guns with his extreme flexibility. The green eyes lit up like fire. “Well, my orders were to leave humans unharmed…” The creature smiled maliciously. “Unless they interfered.”

Vlads eyes widened in horror as he saw the creature begin to lift it’s many appendages to point them at his two friends. His chest pulsed rapidly as he dashed forward to where Maddie and Jack stood, knowing perfectly well what the creature was about to do.

It all happened in less than a few seconds, but for Vlad, it felt like minutes.

As his legs pushed him as fast as he could go, he felt a strange buildup of internal energy as he forced his legs to pump as fast as they could go. While the buildup originated from his chest, the flow of energy was moving all throughout his body in equal amounts, placing an immense pressure in his skin that was ready to bust at any moment.

He arrived in front of Jack and Maddie and threw his arms up in an attempt to block the attack, knowing full well that there was no way he could fully shield them, and whatever cover he could provide could be deadly to him.

But he had no other choice. He would die for Jack and Maddie if need be. He just hoped it was enough.

Just as the ecto-lasers fired from the centipede's many claws. The energy inside him reached a fever pitch.

Instinct told him to push all of the energy outward as hard and fast as he could. So far, his instincts had never let him down.

So he did.

His body was suddenly encased in green for the briefest of milliseconds, before that bright green expanded outward in a green transparent dome that surrounded both him and his two friends.

The lasers bounced off of that green dome as if they had hit a steel wall.

‘An ecto-force field?!’ He wondered in awe as he watched the continuing fire from the insect ghost bounce off the surface.

He noted internally, that he could feel his energy draining with each blast that hit the shield.

Cetep ceased his assault and gazed at the impressive force field the newly formed ghost created.

‘The rare ability to modify energy in the shape of an effective shield… Impressive…’

Cetep watched as Vlad lowered his arms in a fighting pose as the shield dropped, the two humans taking a stance beside the white and black ghost and aiming their pathetic weapons in his direction. ‘If I recruit him in the master’s side, he will surely be pleased and give me a larger reward…’

The centipede ghost lowered his claws and floated to the ground, green claws emitting a gentle tapping sound as they touched the floor tiles. “Listen. There is no need for us to fight. Since you are new to the world, I will excuse your ignorance. Come with me and join hi’s majesty's army in ruling both ghost world, and human world.” He grinned with his round beak. “His majesty rewards loyalty and service very well…”

Vlad felt affronted. First the large centipede like ghost dismissed him as if he’s worthless, then tries to kill him, then tries to kill his friends, and he has the audacity to offer him a job??

He frowned, white colored eyebrows scrunching as his neon green eyes flashed brightly in anger. “I have no interest in joining anyone’s domination conquest. Leave. You and your ‘majesty’ are not welcome in my world.” He said flatly, and full of conviction.

Cetep hissed in anger and gritted his beak, pincers opening and closing threateningly. “Then die, you pathetic excuse for a ghost!” He charged at them at full speed.

The three friends dodged the attack, and began to shoot once more at their fast foe.

“Vlad, catch!” Maddie shouted from the left.

Vlad turned and caught a cylinder container, realizing full well what it was.

While he did not recognize the other two weapons his friends carried, he did recognize the silver thermos. It was one of their main projects that they had been working on for weeks. Using everything they knew and continued learning about ghosts to try and get the device operational.

Unfortunately, the ghost catching thermos had yet to be tested, having only finished the development stage only yesterday.

“Please, please work!” He whispered to the container as he energized it with his ecto-energy, his focus torn between dodging the ecto-blasts from the green centipede ghost and charging the device. 

The function of the thermos was to catch ghosts. Never had such a thing been created, not by them or any of the five sponsoring companies that funded paranormal research. 

It was incredibly crucial that this device worked. Unlike all of his other fights with fairly mindless specters, there was no doubt that this ghost would not be scared off that easily… nor without leaving major wounds.

The rapid dodging made him feel the stings all throughout his body, in the many places where Cetep’s shots had pierced his skin earlier on. His black lab coat and grey and white clothes covered in green spots of his ectoplasm. ‘Not that he hasn’t already left major damage already…’ He thought bitterly.

And there was also Maddie and Jack to worry about. Why the name of cheese did they do something so dangerous??

The thermos gave off a small ‘beep’ sound, indicating that it was fully charged.

Vlad lifted the cylindrical container, pointing the end toward the green insect ghost. Taking but a second, he prayed to the gods he didn’t even believe in for this to work.

Seeing a weapon pointed his way out of the corner of his large bug eyes, Cetep twisted his elongated body even further, having expected a blast to come out of the object. But he was not even close to ready for the sudden suction power around the beam that he barely dodged.

Because his elongated body was stretched, he had little means to brace himself as part of his body was suddenly pulled forth by the suction power of the thermos.

“What the???!” Cetep screeched loudly as he was being pulled toward the thermos, unable to stop himself from moving forward.

Vlad held still as he held the ghost catching device, watching as the insect ghost was being vacuumed up into the small container and hoping to hell that this fully worked.

“YOU WILL PAY For T-” 

The yell of Cetep was cut off as Vlad lidded the thermos.

Jack, Maddie, and Vlad stood stock still as they waited. Holding their breaths.

The room was eerie silent. All eyes on the thermos, guns at the ready.

Nothing happened.

“It worked!” Maddie shouted with joy!”

“All right V-Man!” Jack also shouted with triumph. “The Fenton thermos is a success!”

Maddie lowered her large weapon and she gave the large man an exasperated sigh, glancing in his direction. “Jack… we really need to work on the names of these inventions…”

Jack’s shoulders slumped, and his voice fell. “What’s wrong with calling it the ‘Fenton thermos…”

She was about to reply, before she was suddenly hugged, her goggled eyes widening in surprise as Vlad embraced her tightly.

Vlad held her tight for a few minutes before pulling away slightly to look at her face, which was mostly covered with the goggles and light blue hood of her jumpsuit. “Are you MAD!!” He all but yelled at her. He turned his green eyes to look in Jack’s direction. “What were you two thinking?!”

He was frantic with worry, gaze flickering from Maddie to Jack. His two friends had carelessly put themselves in mortal danger. If he hadn’t… hadn't shielded them in time…

Maddie gave him a gentle smile. Lifting her hand, she pulled off her hood and goggles, auburn curly hair spilling from the confines of the tight material. Then, she her gentle hand on his shoulder. “Vlad. You do not have to do this on your own anymore.”

“That’s right!!!” Jack exclaimed excitedly, walking towards them. “We are now a ghost fighting team!” The big man then slapped him hard on the back and making him wince and groan in pain, the hit amplified by the multiple shot wounds in his back.

Vlad closed his eyes tightly and fell to his knees, pain shooting up his spine like the feeling of many stab wounds all around his form. His adrenaline and battle instinct gone from the lack of danger, he could now feel just how injured he truly was.

“Vlad?!” Maddie shouted concerned, kneeling with him. “Jack, I think he is hurt badly! Let’s get him to the lab!”

“I’m fine Maddie.” Vlad half groaned, putting up as much of a brave face as he could so she wouldn’t worry. “Just a few small scrapes...” 

As the pain seemed to slowly intensify, he could feel the coolness that surrounded his body begin to wane, his chest pulsing erratically. 

Unable to hold on to that cold feeling, he felt the the sudden cold intensity around his midsection, followed by the up and down wave sensation as he lost his ghostly transformation.

While the green ectoplasm already on his clothes remained green, what now came out of his still opened wounds was now red blood. And those wounds stung worse than they did when he was in ghost form...

Half dazed from the pain, he looked at the dark red liquid that now stained his hands along with the green goo. Black spots covering his vision and expanding outwards as his mind began to shut down.

Voices. Were they voices calling his name somewhere?

“Uhhg…”

A different kind of weightlessness came over him, and his consciousness faded.

……………………..

At first, there was a haze of darkness, and silence.

His mind tried to focus, the haze clouding not only his vision, but his mind as well.

The haze was slowly receding. A tapping sound in the distance.

No. Not tapping…

Beeping?

The noise sounded oddly… familiar…

Is that a… a heart monitor?

As the rhythmic sound grew more clearer, so did his theory. It was a heart monitor.

A voice. Now he could hear a man’s mumbled unintelligible voice in the distance.

Now footsteps.

Oh god… was he back in the hospital?

He focused as much into his hearing as he could in his hazed mind, hearing the dreaded sound that confirmed his suspicions.

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*

The beeping rhythim began to pulse faster as his heart picked up.

While the constant ticking of the clock remained steady and sure.

‘No, no, NO!’ 

This could not be possible! There was no way he could still be in the hospital!!

His face! His powers!

No! It could not have been a dream, it just couldn’t have!!

His face was cured! CURED! 

He could not go back to that!

“AAAAaahhhh!!!” He bolted upright, eyes wide and gasping for breath.

“Vlad! Vlad honey, you need to calm down.” Came the sweet voice of Maddie.

Jack’s voice was just as concerned. “Breathe V-man, breathe!”

His pulse sped rapidly as his eyes scanned the room wildly, his hands touched his smooth, blemish free face desperately. The soothing cold intensified around his midsection, rolling off of his body as the white rings of light swept through him. His neon green eyes took in every detail of the room he was in.

He took in the sight of the familiar beige walls and brown wooden tiles of the floor. Posters of Greenbay Packers hanging on one side of the wall, while posters of X-files and paranormal material hung on the other. A bed on the wall opposite side of his on the side of the paranormal related material. His gaze landed on the anxious faces of Jack and Maddie. Sky blue and amethyst eyes gazed at him with worry as neither said a word. 

Relief started flowing through him as he realized he was in the university dorm room he and Jack shared, not the hospital.

*Tick* *Tick* *Tick* *Tick*

His neon green eyes shifted nervously to the sound that was right beside his ear, and couldn’t help the mix of relief and the tightening of his gut as nausea rose. It was only Maddie’s wrist watch. Her hand was placed on his shoulder and his amplified hearing easily picked up on the ticking sound from the small machine.

But it was still an analogue one. With the ticking. The constant ticking...

He never told Jack and Maddie about the effects non-electronic clocks had on him. How he always felt physically sick to the sound. His mind would zone in on the sound, and his stomach would do amazing backflips, nausea rising in his gut. Sometimes his head would throb painfully along with the sound.

And unfortunately, physical discomfort was not the only effect the noise had on him.

He would find it incredibly hard to concentrate with the constant ticking nearby. His mind kept returning to that cold dark room. The isolation and loneliness returning and almost suffocating all of the light. That heavy feeling of despair weighing him down. Sometimes, when it got real bad, he could feel his body shake as his his anxiousness reached a fever pitch, forgetting where he was. Returning him to that small hopeless room. 

These affects the sound had on him gave him a real hard time focussing on lessons or school work inside the classrooms that still carried the old style analogue wall clock instead of a digital one.

Needless to say, the wall clock he and Jack used to have in their dorm room ‘mysteriously’ stopped working. Vlad had immediately volunteered to get a new one, and now they had a silver digital one where the other used to be.

Smaller clocks, like wristwatches, were okay unless they were very near him, like the one on Maddie’s wrist as her hand lay on his shoulder.

But, he was not in the hospital anymore. He did not have that disfigured, scarred face anymore. It was just a nightmare that haunted him of his past.

“...Vlad?”

He tore his eyes from her watch at the concerned tone of her voice and looked up towards his two worried friends. 

Forcing himself to ignore the swirling storm that was at the pit of his stomach, he did his best to put on a smile. “I’m fine Madd- Arrghh!”

He had tried to get up, and instantly regretted it.

Sharp painful sensation stung in multiple areas of his body, reminding him just why he was laying on the bed in the first place.

“Stay still Vlad! You still need to recover.”

He leaned back at her gentle urging, letting her push him gently back down on his own bed. He saw her worried and frustrated frown.

“Could you change back. Unfortunately the bandages we worked so hard to wrap you with are gone in this form…”

He arched a questioning brow at her statement. Confused at what she was getting at. He looked down at himself seeing his black lab coat and grey and white attire and suddenly realized that at some point he had transformed. 

A slight blush on his cheeks formed at the realization. “Oh, yes. Of course...”

With a flash of white light, his snow white hair returned to its smoky grey color, his neon green eyes back to sapphire blue.

He looked down at himself once more and his blush deepened in color as he gazed at the clothes he was wearing.

Or rather, what he was and was not wearing.

While his chest had been bandaged up, his chest was still bare, having absolutely no shirt on. He had never been even close to shirtless while near Maddie. And his face was heating up at the thought that she is clearly seeing him like this. 

Even more embarrassment hit him as he realized that his lower extremity consisted of his soft and comfortable Green Bay Packers green and yellow plaid pajama pants. He could only imagine how silly Maddie thought he was for having, let alone, wearing such a style.

And oh my cherry pie… had she even helped to change him!!!

He began to hyperventilate at the thought. Body beginning to shake.

“V-man! Snap out of it, buddy!”

*Slap!*

He blinked in confusion as he realized he had been slapped, face slightly stinging from the impact.

He returned his gaze to Maddie, her hand raised indicating she had been the one to hit him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder once more. “Now calm down…” Her voice gentle. “Your safe now.”

The word ‘safe’ brought him out of his stupor, and he frowned at the two of them.

“I’m safe? What about you two?! Are you both insane!!” He glared at them hard, anger rising at the danger those two put themselves in. “You were reckless! Placing your lives in danger like that. What if those shots had hit you?? What if…” His sentence cut off at the horror of the idea. He lowered his gaze sadly. “What if something terrible happened to either of you…” He finished quietly, barely a whisper.

The had that Maddie had on his shoulder gave him a quick squeeze. He felt the heavy, yet astonishingly gentle, weight of a large hand lay on his other shoulder as Jack spoke. “You ain't gonna lose us, Vladdie. Don’t you know already that you can’t get rid of us that easily?”

“Besides.” Maddie continued. “Don’t you think we feel the same way about you, Vlad?”

She squeezed his shoulder once more, this time holding the pressure as she spoke. “Look at how badly you got hurt. If… if me and Jack hadn’t been there…”

Vlad kept his gaze lowered. Unable to look them in the eyes. Even he had to admit that he had not been prepared to face a ghost as powerful as that centipede one. And if that powerful bug was subservient to another ghost, well, one could only imagine that the other one was even more stronger…

Raising his gaze, he was met with determined amethyst and sky blue gazes. He knew those looks well. They would not back down from this. No matter what he said.

He felt a bit of guilt when he suddenly realized that he didn’t want them to.

Jack and Maddie would not only never abandon him, but they also would always have his back.

His lips curled into a genuine smile as he continued to gaze at his two wonderful friends.

He shook his head as he looked at Jack, still wearing the orange jumpsuit with the hoodie and goggles down. Maddie had looked stunning in that form fitting blue jumpsuit (though he had yet to find any attire that did not look good on the girl he had a crush on). Jack, on the other hand, just looked plain weird. Admittedly, the bright orange color the big guy had chosen not helping in the least. “But do you really have to wear that orange monstrocity, Jack.”

“Orange monstrocity? Maddie asked shocked. “He looks quite stylish.”

Vlad’s grey eyebrow twitched. He really had to wonder about her tastes sometimes.

Maybe he didn’t look as silly to her in his plaid pajamas as he had initially feared…

“Besides.” Maddie continued. “We need a ghost fighting outfit so no one can recognize us. Not everyone has the benefit of changing appearances like someone here.”

“And we’re going to look great doing it too!” Jack piped up excitedly. “Just think! We will henceforth be known as The Fenton Ghostbusters!!”

Silence.

“Yeah, Jack… Maybe we should take some time to think of a team name, okay?”

Vlad nodded slowly, more than in agreement with Maddie’s suggestion…


	8. Unexpected Guidance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay. The holidays took up all of my time and it took a bit to finish this chapter after all of the hectic days.
> 
> Hope yall enjoy! 
> 
> I love reviews! ^ ^
> 
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Thanks to the success of the Fenton thermos (they caved into Jack’s pleas and puppy dog eyes and decided to keep the name), the ghosts they encountered were sucked up into containers, rather than just scaring them off and knowing they would just terrorize another place farther away. 

It had been a week since their encounter with the centipede ghost Cetep, whom they kept locked up securely in the thermos he was sucked up in. 

Impressively, even though Vlads wounds were quite severe, it only took him a couple of days to fully heal, then he was back on the ghost hunting job. 

But this time it was different.

Jack and Maddie also assisted him in fighting the ghosts that haunted Amity park or the nearby area. They would budget at least three hours at night to do one of three things: patrol the area, help Vlad train his ghost powers, and work on new ghost catching thermoses. Thanks to Maddie’s scheduling skills, they started entering a rhythm where so far they were able to manage college work and ghost hunting at the same time.

Since the encounter with Cetep, Vlad spent even more time outside of the budgeted three hours to train his ghost powers, determined to hold his own should another powerful ghost attack.

All the while, his mind continued to worry about what Cetep said. There was some sort of ‘Ghost King’ that the insect ghost reported to. One that, assumedly, would be stronger than that lazer shooting centipede. And it had been a very close call with that one...

He thanked their luck every night that when the cold feeling crawled up his spine and exiting out as a blue mist, it was only a weak small specter, for they had not come across any other speaking ghost since Cetep.

The three heroes were working tirelessly in their private lab, located in the basement of Jack’s parent’s house. Not only did all of the equipment they used for ghost fighting come solely through their materials and their lab (to avoid any connection to the university, or business that paid for the paranormal activity researched in the university) they also had a shit ton of thermoses to create. 

They discovered that each thermos could hold approximately 3 mindless ghosts and only one ghost like Cetep, as they could not fit a small ghost in the thermos containing the centipede ghost.

It was extremely problematic. It took an insane amount of time to build one of those small containers and a lot of material to make it function properly.

Their technique was limited. They would have to figure out a better way to keep the ghosts away…

So they began their second attempt to construct a functional ghost portal.

If there was a dimension where ghosts lived, that would solve their ‘storage’ problem. Then they would be able to banish the ghosts, once and for all, from the human world. Vlad was feverishly against the idea at first, but even he had to admit, just building and storing the ghosts in the limited thermoses was not a sustainable method. So he helped, but grudgingly.

……………….

Vlad thanked the barista of the university's coffee shop as he was handed his steaming hot cup of coffee. Even though it was well into the afternoon and he had just finished his last class for the day, he still drank coffee. All of the late nights either capturing ghosts, working on the portal, or completing his college homework had him constantly exhausted, so he depended on the dark liquid energy like an addiction. Drinking many cups a day.

His rapid ghost metabolism did not help him in the least when it came to the amount of caffeine he needed to feel its lasting energy boosting effects either, causing him to drink even more than any normal human should safely drink for an extended period of time.

As he exited the small shop on campus, he lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip. Closing his eyes and savoring the bitter taste as it flowed through his mouth.

Even though the coffee held an exquisite taste , a part of him was still torn between enjoyment and disappointment every time he drank.

While his ghost powers allowed him to be able to drink the coffee straight out of it being made, since the heat did not burn his tongue in the slightest, it created a bit of an issue. He was no longer able to feel the smooth warmth of the heated liquid move down his throat, or the heat reach his stomach. 

In fact, the cup he held in his hand felt like room temperature coffee…

Throughout his time exploring the effect his ghost half had on him, with Maddie and Jack’s help, he discovered that he had lost much of his heat sensitivity. At first they had feared that he had lost his ability to feel temperature which could be very dangerous if his own body couldn’t warn him of the dangers that fire and ice can have on human skin, but they soon found out that his sensitivity to the temperature had adjusted to his body’s new tolerance of heat and cold.

Somehow he could stick his finger in a small fire and his skin would only redden with mild irritation and he would feel like he had only touched a rock that had been sitting in the sun for too long.

What was more surprising, he found his tolerance of cold to be even higher than that of heat. Not only could he hold a large block of ice in his bare hands like it was nothing, but his skin was comfortable touching metal cooled to ten degrees below freezing in his human form, and even with all the testing he, Maddie and Jack had done in the lab, they had yet to discover how much cold his ghost half can comfortably tolerate, let alone it’s limit.

This led him to theorize about the environment in the ghost dimension, if there was even such a place. If ghosts had not only an extreme tolerance for cold, but also felt comfortable in it, then maybe the climate in the ghost zone was similar to something like the arctic here in the human world. 

He sighed and shook his head. Of course, that was taking way too many things into assumption that it was not really conductive to truly theorize at this point. For one, he was only one ghost, and there is no way that the experience of one individual can be assumed to be the same for an entire species. Two, he was only half ghost. There was no way they could account for all of the ways that might mess with his ghost part. Three, the knowledge they had on ghosts was way too limited at this point, it wasn’t even funny. Four, was there even a separate ghost dimension? What if ghosts were just created from dead people and animals and were born here. The beliefs about the existence of a separate dimension for ghosts was all based on theory with no evidence as of yet. Five, if there was such a place, there was no indication that ghosts followed Darwin’s theory of evolution, or even adaptation for that matter. Did ghosts even copulate as a mean to reproduce? To pass on genes??

There were even more reasons why it is too early to theorize about the environment of the ghost dimension. Need he even go on?

“Oh my god! That’s terrible!!!”

A sudden shout caught his attention back from his musings, and he glanced suddenly in the direction of the shaken voice. 

There were two girls who stood together not ten feet from where he was walking. They were both staring at a cell phone that one held in her hands, eyes wide and glued to the screen as they watched with horror filled expressions. 

Thankful that he had sensitive ghost hearing, he focused on what the girls were listening to, ready to move onward quickly if it was something personal and not ghost related.

The voice of the shaken female reporter came through loud and clear to his sharpened senses: *The fire raging in the apartment building located in the neighborhood of Berkeley in the city of Denver continues to rage. Growing stronger despite the firefighter’s brave attempts to put it out. There are many residents trapped inside-*

That was all he needed to know to spring into action. Even if this was not a ghost related issue, innocent people were suffering and in danger. He had the powers to help and there was no way he would stand idly by when there was something he could do about it.

He suddenly chugged the rest of his steaming hot coffee down (for the moment incredibly grateful that he could not be burned by such an action). Then he tossed the cup in a nearby trash can as he jogged to a secluded space to transform. The ever pleasant chill climbed up his body as his ash-grey shaggy hair changed to silky smooth white, his Yellow and green shirt changing to shades of white and grey and his brown jeans to white.

Once in his ghost form, he leaped into the air and flew off as fast as he could, pushing himself harder than he had before to get there as soon as he could. Unfortunately, the burning building was in a major city a fair distance away. At his current speed, it would take him 15 minutes to arrive. 

The smoke was well in view before the building was, and once he could see the building, his heart sank.

The 10 story building was nearly engulfed in flames, the fire pushing out through many windows, leaving heavy smoke trails. 

The fire was worse at the bottom of the building, which meant that it would be impossible for the civilians stuck inside to evacuate without assistance.

There were many fire engines whose ladders were extended to reach the high floors, and also saw a helicopter pulling people who managed to get to the roof. 

He steeled himself as he flew into the building, pushing away his fear at entering the raging flames and smoke filled air of the building. Of course, he did not need to breathe and his resistance to heat made it so he did not have to worry about getting burned by the fire, but his human instinct nonetheless was screaming at him to run away.

His ghost sense went off as his black shoes landed on the floor of one of the room. ‘Ghosts… Why am I not surprised…’

A large shriek caught his attention and he dashed over to the sound. 

He broke open the door to see a man pressed fearfully against the wall, coughing heavily as five blue balls of flames danced in the air around the frightened human.

He immediately recognized those blue corporales, mindless ghosts and he jumped into action. 

Not even taking the time to think, he pulled out his two thermoses. They labeled those ghosts as will-o-wisps. They were worse than fire to the touch, igniting whatever came into contact with their corporales tiny flame bodies. And even with his resistance to intense heat, those ghosts could easily burn his skin should he touch them, as he had unfortunately found out the only other time he had come across this type of ghost…

With practice movement, he activated one thermoss at at the time as he sucked the tiny spectors in the cylinder devices.

Due to the limited storage capability of the Fenton Thermos, he could only fit three of the mindless, formless ghosts in each container. He was thankful that he had not only had two thermoses left, but also that he had thought to keep those with him. Of all the small mindless ghosts he had encountered, the will-o-wisps were the most dangerous because of all the fires they caused.

Once the tiny specters were safely inside the thermoses, he quickly tucked the two ghost catching devices into his ghost body, shuddering from the strange feeling of stuffing something inside yourself. It was both cool and disturbing that he could do something like that, but slowly he was getting used to the strangeness of it. After all, in times like this an ability like that was very useful.

Now that the ghosts causing and exacerbating the fire problem were dealt with, Vlad flew forward, grabbing the panicked and suffocating man. “I’m going to get you out of here.” He declared as he lifted the man in the air, ignoring the man’s startled exclamations and struggles. 

Turning them both intangible while keeping as solid a grip on the man as he could, even with all the guy’s movement. He floated up carrying the man’s weight easily. If he could carry Jack, who was insanely large and heavy with only a minimal amount of effort, he could easily carry this medium-build guy. 

Ignoring the screams of the man held, and the bit of pain it caused on his sensitive hearing, he flew forward, passing through the many walls of the building and through the raging fire until he had passed through the outer wall to the outside.

He released his intangibility as he floated down, the man he carried had stopped struggling and was now squeezing him hard out of fear of being dropped from such a height.

On his way down he hear many startled gasps as the spectators and reporters of the scene spotted them in the air.

His black shoes landed softly on the ground in a secluded spot nearby. He lowered the man as gently as he could and took a step back.

“Look! It’s Inviso Billl!!” “Inviso Bill!” Inviso Bill saved that man!”

He inwardly cringed as he heard many of the people shout that name. Where in Tillamook Cheese Factory had they come up with ‘that’ name? What part of him in his ghost form or human one did he even look like a ‘Bill’??

His black lab coat flapped sharply as he dashed up into the air, both to get away from the approaching crowd and to return to the burning building to save more trapped residents.

Ignoring the sound of the raging flames, he continued phasing through the building, searching for trapped people and taking them to safety. It was really hard to see. The smoke filled the hallways of the building obstructed even his ghostly enhanced vision. The sounds of the flames in his ears and sound of falling wood making it extremely difficult to hear cries for help. 

He was immensely relieved that if the fire had to have been started by a ghost, then at least it had been started by some mindless will-o-wisps. Considering the people trapped inside, he really had no time to waste fighting a stronger ghost while trying to rescue trapped civilians.

Or, he had initially thought that it was the will-o-wisps he captured in the thermos…

A blue mist escaped his mouth, indicating the presence of yet another ghost. He would have thought that maybe it was more will-o-wisps, but the blue mist was larger and had a colder sensation when it rose from his chest to his throat, meaning the ghost was significantly more powerful than a simple will-o-wisp. 

There were only two times that intense feeling a mist had come out of his mouth.

One with the Box Ghost, and the other with Cetep... 

“I have no time for this…” He declared, voice full of aggravation, eciding that he would have no choice but to ignore the ghost in order to save more people. He just prayed that the ghost would just leave him and the remaining residents alone. 

The distant high pitch scream of a little girl broke though the sounds of the flames, catching his attention. He immediately turned around towards the direction of the sound and paused in shock, spotting the backside of a large, white glowing figure down the hallway.

The thing was huge. Not only did it look to be at least seven feet tall, but it was also looked incredibly bulky as its entire body nearly covered the door from view. And the bulkiness came from the muscle sense, not the fat sense. It reminded him of the back of a large bear, or the profile of the made-up yeti creature. 

From what he could tell from the distance and through the constant haze of smoke, the white specter was covered in white fur all over. It wore some sort of blue cape along with a blue skirt, it's thick tail protruding out the bottom of the material. While it seemed to have two massive arms, one of them was different from the other. The right arm matched the rest of its body, being covered in fur, but the left arm seemed to be entirely made of glass, along with its two glass spiked horns adorning its head.

Just from the back alone this ghost looked to be even more formidable and dangerous than the centipede ghost Cetep...

“Sugar cookies...” He cursed as he pondered his next move. Fortunately, the large white ghost had yet to spot him, so he had a moment to come up with a plan. Unfortunately, the two Fenton Thermoses he carried were full in capacity, having three small ghosts in one and two in the other. There was no way he could fit the larger ghost in the almost full thermos. 

If it became necessary, he could free the two will-o-wisps and capture this big ghost, a prospect he wasn’t so fond of. The will-o-wisps were on their top list of the most dangerous mindless ghosts because because of their flame bodies. But if this ghost was indeed as dangerous as he feared it was, then he would have no choice...

It was a bit odd though. This ghost looked nothing like something that was built to cause fire. In fact, the thick white fur that covered its hide made it appear like it was built for an arctic climate. 

Well, that way of thinking would make logical sense, but who knew if the appearance that ghosts took had any logic to their environment or even the power they possessed.

He watched as the large ghost raised its glass covered arm, its large paw raking across the door it stood in front with ease.

Panic filled his core when he heard the terrified screams of the little girl increasing in intensity leading to the conclusion that the girl was in that very room the ghost wanted to enter.

He dashed forward, ready to tackle the ghost and protect the girl at all costs, but stopped suddenly when he heard the ghost speak in a deep, but soothing tone.

“I am not going to harm you child. I am here to protect you.”

Before Vlad could ponder more on the words said by the large white ghost, the ceiling above the girl cracked.

And with a large crash, a beam came down.

He dashed forward once more, as fast as he could to get to the girl before the beam crushed her.

But he wasn’t going to make it.

‘No!’

To his astonishment, the large white ghost used his body strength to stop the beam before it fell, holding it up with it’s broad back.

Vlad was about to reach the child when a wall of ice suddenly rose out of nowhere, blocking his path.

He heard a deep snarl and the beast turned his face in his direction with a threatening glare with its small red eyes, canine like snout bearing large sharp teeth. “You will not harm this innocent child ghost!”

Vlad blinked for a moment, utterly confused and mouth agape.

He should be the one saying that!

“I-I am trying to save her!!” He pleaded with the large ghost. “If you’re trying as well, let me help!”

A loud crash sounded far away and the little girl sobbed harder, intermixed with coughing from the thick smoke that filled the air.

The red beaded eyes of the large white ghost eyed him suspiciously, but then nodded, the wall of ice breaking into pieces, allowing Vlad to dash next to the blonde little girl. 

“You’re going to be alright. I’ll take you to safety.” He reassured as softly as he could as he gently lifted the child. Turning intangible, he flew through the wall with the little girl in arms, flying to the ground and lowered her gently.

He dashed off heading back to the burning building as a few people came over to where the child was set down to ensure she was alright.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the big yeti-like ghost set down an unconscious man on the ground, then turning to return to the fiery building as well.

‘A… good ghost??’ He wondered to himself as he flew once more into the flames.

In all of this time, the only ghosts he had encountered were the ones bent on causing mischief and suffering. Of the two ghosts he met that could speak, both were causing mayhem. The box ghost was attacking people with crates and the centipede ghost Cetep was stealing important documents and had no regard for human safety.

But this ghost… this ghost was actually going out of its way to save people. Was it really possible that not all ghosts were bad? Or did this ghost have an ulterior agenda?

He placed such thoughts on the backburner of his mind as he focused his thoughts and efforts into saving the rest of the people trapped in the 10 story building.

……………………………….

Together, he and the yeti-like ghost saved all of the remaining survivors who had been trapped in the building from the raging flames.

After double checking that the building was indeed empty, Vlad turned to the large white ghost. “Can we speak outside?” 

The yeti-ghost nodded once, lifting from the ground and floating upwards and through the ceiling of the building.

Vlad flyed up as well, turning intangible to follow the ghost to a more secluded area, away from the smoke-filled building and the spectators bellow.

They descended in an alley nearby, returning their invisibility once they were sure no one was around and they were indeed alone.

Now that there was no imminent danger to others, he could get a better look at the large beast of a ghost. He now noticed that the arm and horns he had thought were made of glass were in fact made out of ice. 

How was it even possible that the ice horns and arm had not melted even slightly in the intense heat of the flaming building was beyond him. 

“I commend you, young ghost.” The large yeti praised in his deep voice, drawing his attention back to its canine like face. “That was a noble deed you committed in saving the lives of those humans.”

Not used to being praised by a stranger, his cheeks tinted in a green blush. He lowered his gaze in embarrassment as he raised his hand to nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “W-Well, you too.”

“It is what my people do. If it is in our capacity, we shall help those in need.”

Vlad snapped his head back up to look at the white ghost at that comment. “Y-Your people?!”

“Yes. We frostlings value honor and protection of innocent. They are amongst our core values.”

Vlad blinked. “Frostlings? But you are a ghost are you not?”

The ‘frostling’ tilted his head in slight amusement, his canine muzzle twisting up in a smile. “Yes young one. There are many subsets of our species, though why you are not aware of that even at your young age is odd indeed.”

“A-Ah, well…” Vlad stuttered. Apparently he had asked an incredibly apparent question and he feared giving away the fact that he was not a normal full ghost. Just because this ghost helped to save people from a burning building did not mean that it could be trusted.

He came up with the first excuse he could think of. “W-well you are the first ghost I have met that wanted to help humans instead of hurting them…”

The large ghost’s features softened kindly. “Not all ghosts wish to harm humans, young one. There are many of us who are noble in spirit and wish to exist in peace.”

Vlad nodded. “Well, thank you nonetheless.” He extended a hand in friendship. 

He didn’t know if the large white-furred ghost knew what a handshake was, but he thought he would give it a shot. “My name is Vlad. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

A friendly smile crossed the canine like snout of the large ghost. 

A large, fur covered cold hand covered his own in a strong, yet friendly grip. “And I am Frostbite, leader of the Far Frozen.”

Vlad rose an eyebrow in curiosity. “Far, Frozen?”

“Yes. A frozen paradise located in the far reaches of the Ghost Zone.”

Vlad’s eyes widened in shock, and he spoke without even thinking. “T-The Ghost Zone?!”

Frostbite tilted his head in curiosity, releasing the handshake. “Where you not born in our world, young one?”

This was a lot to take in.

They were right. 

They were right!!!

Not only was there a dimension other than theirs, but it was a ghost dimension, just as they had predicted! 

‘Wait until Jack and Maddie hear about this!’

Frostbite eyed the humanoid ghost strangely. Yes, he could tell this one was very young, but even at the youngest a sentient ghost could be formed from mindless forms (which the earliest recorded was 1,000 years old), there were basic things he should already know. 

‘Very odd indeed…’ The frostling thought to himself.

Since the young humanoid ghost seemed lost in thought with a happy grin, Frostbite thought it best to take his leave. There was much he needed to do, and there was no time to lose. Turning away, he bid his farewell. “Well, I must be off, young one.”

“Wait!”

Frostbite paused and glanced back with a questioning glance at the anxious shout from the other.

Vlad looked up to him filled with excitement. “Could you take me there?”

The question was certainly unexpected to the frost giant. Because of the coming darkness, many ghosts tended to flee the Ghost Zone into the human world. Yet, this young one wants to go back to the dangerous Ghost Zone? Did he not even know what was occuring there?

He turned to face the green eyed youngling before him. “While I myself seek reentry into the Ghost Zone, I have not as of yet found a way to return.”

Vlad blinked, slightly confused. “Wait… Then how did you get into the human world?”

Frostbite lowered his gaze. A strange shadow crossing those small red eyes and his posture tensed significantly. “I left the Far Frozen to visit one of our closest allies seeking the truth behind a rumor. On my return, the sudden appearance of a natural portal brought me to this world.”

The heavy air that suddenly came from the topic told Vlad that there must be more to the story, but from the other’s reaction, it seemed like it was a painful subject, so he let it be.

He, Maddie, and Jack were close to finishing their second attempt at a ghost portal. Now that he knew that the ghost dimension was real, he was determined to work even harder to make this one work. 

They were much more careful with this one. Taking their time and double checking their calculations. Maddie believed that she had isolated what had caused the explosion or their first prototype portal, so at least they would not make the same mistake twice.

Once they were able to build a working portal to the Ghost Zone, they planned to empty all of the Fenton thermoses and send all ghosts they capture back to where they belonged. If this ghost wanted to go willingly, who was he to stop him.

Coming to a decision, he decided to share the information about the portal construction with the frostling. “My colleagues and I are working on a portal to connect to the Ghost Zone. If you wish, when we are done you are welcome to go back through it.”

Frostbite’s tiny red eyes lighted up, a big fanged grin on his canine muzzle. “I would be forever grateful to you and your colleagues should you do me this favor.”

Vlad nodded, then placed his hands behind his neck and glanced up at the ghost apologetically. “Ah, unfortunately, it may take another week or two to complete.”

Frostbite raised a large paw in the air, waving it of. “That is of no consequence.” Lowering his arm, his gaze fell intently on Vlad’s green ones. His expression full of seriousness and conviction. “Tell me young one, how may I return such kindness?”

Vlad’s cheeks blushed slightly green, and he look away from the intense gaze. “Please, there’s no need.”

Frostbite nodded, quite impressed with his generosity.

Even though there are ghosts who do no harm to others, or ghosts that are willing to help others, there are few noble souls who would go so out of their way to help a complete stranger. Such altruism is a highly valued trait amongst his people in the Far Frozen. 

This ghost was still young, and being the leader of the Far Frozen, he could easily tell that this one had an Ice core. An incredibly rare occurrence outside of the frostlings species. If left alone, it could take a long time for this young ghost to access his ice core. Something that with the proper guidance of a skilled mentor, could help tap into in a much shorter amount of time. 

He decided that this is how he could repay the young ghost for his generosity. The deciding factor being not that this ghost had an ice core or that he was helping him return to the Ghost Zone, but that this young ghost seemed to go out of his way to help others before himself. There was no doubt in his mind that this one would not be misusing what he planned on teaching for wrongdoing. “Since you are truly of noble heart, I will use my wisdom and experience to assist you with your powers during the meantime.”

Vlad paused, words sinking into his head as his eyes and mouth widened. Slowly, the implications of what he was offering registering in his mind.

No more fumbling through powers he did not know how to control! He would have an actual ghost mentor who could guide him through proper ghost fighting. Teach him how to access his powers more efficiently, and so much more! Not only that, but now he had ‘an inside’ ghost! Someone who seemed old and wise and full of ghostly knowledge! Who knew how much they could learn about ghost existence and the Ghost Zone from this frost giant!

A big smile crossed his face as his neon green eyes flashed in excitement. “That would be incredible!”

………………………………

A few days had passed after he first met Frostbite, and already they had gained an immense amount of information out of the old wise ghost. 

Many theories about how ghosts were formed were thrown out the window. Prior to their conversation with Frostbite, they believed that ghosts were formed from recently deceased people, but actually that was not the case.

According to the frostling, a ghost forms from the collection of green ecto-energy. While that ecto energy does come from dead people, no one person is enough to form a ghost. Rather, the spirit of the recently deceased person transforms into ecto-energy goo that appears in the Ghost Zone. The type of ecto-energy is determined by many different factors about the person themselves when they were alive: their passions, their main regrets, their obsessions.

The green ecto-energy floats around the Ghost Zone. Due to a special magnetism, similar types of ecto-energy attract each other and merge, and once there is enough mass, they slowly formed into a mindless blob. As that mindless blob continued floating in the Ghost Zone, it collects more of it’s type of ecto-energy to its formless body. Once there is enough, the ghost core hardens into a sphere, and a short time later, the formless creature starts to take a more solid form. Once that form is completed, the ghost becomes ‘complete’, a full ghost with a consciousness.

A newly formed ghost was easily detectable due to it’s unsteady core signature, and it takes time for that ghost to develop its powers and specialty. At first, Frostbite couldn’t believe that Vlad had only been a ghost for about half a year now, stating that he was way too powerfully skilled to be that young. The large white ghost was even more taken aback when Vlad decided to reveal that he was only half-ghost. 

Unfortunately, Frostbite had never heard about a halfling before. He wasn’t even sure how that was possible, but admitted that he was no ghost specialist. And Vlad couldn’t help but perk up at the mention of ghost scientists in the Ghost Zone.

Vlad bit the tip of his pen as he gazed at the history paper in his hands, not really reading it.

One of the many things Frostbite told them, was how important a name was to a ghost. The name could be reflective of a power or skill a ghost possesed, an obsession that defined who the ghost was, a personality trait, a status symbol, or a name that carries some great importance to the specter. 

But whatever the reason behind the name, that name was an integral part of their being. When another spoke the name in the ghost’s proximity, a soft hum resonated within their core. 

He had yet to feel anything like that, nor did he have any particular affinity to a strange word that might be his ‘ghost name’. Perhaps he didn’t even have a ghost name…

Somehow, that thought made him slightly depressed.

Trying to shift his focus back to the assignment in his hand, he pushed those thoughts aside and gazed at the paper in frustration. He was supposed to have this read by tomorrow for his afternoon history class, one he had been forced to take as an elective credit. 

He was never in the habit of leaving things for the last minute. He was one of the most responsible students in his classes and depended heavily on high grades to keep his scholarships. But he, Maddie, and Jack had been so caught up in the excitement of having an actual knowledgeable ghost to share his experience, they had been neglecting some of their school work. 

And it was back to haunt them as they worked to scramble before class.

A loud thump caught his attention and he lifted his gaze to see Jack’s head connected with the small desk in their dorm room. His large hands grasping an open book. “Man! I can’t make heads or tails of this mumbo-jumbo…”

He sighed. It was nothing new that he would end up tutoring Jack in the classes he had the most trouble with. Jack would always put it off until the last minute and he would have to stay up later helping his friend catch up. Usually, Vlad frowned on his friend’s procrastinative nature, but this time he was unable to blame him. After all, he was in the same boat at the moment for the same exact reason. This time.

Deciding he needed a break from the history paper he was failing to read, he rose from the couch and walked over to his frustrated friend. 

“What is the assignment this time?” He asked as he took as seat beside Jack on the couch.

Jack sighed. “I have to read some story called Phantom of the Opera-”

The rest of what Jack was saying was completely missed as he suddenly felt a small jolt in his chest. There was something about the word his friend had said.

“Jack.” He interrupted his friend’s rant, turning to look straight at him. “Say the name of the book again…”

Jack blinked in confusion at Vlad’s sudden change in demeanor and serious expression, but repeated the name nonetheless. “Phantom of the Opera?”

There it was again! That sudden pulse in his chest!

His heart pumped rapidly as excitement filled him. Could this be his ghost name he had been searching for?!

Suddenly Vlad jumped up in the air full of energy and excitement, transforming into his black and white ghost form. “Say it again Jack!”

The large guy was completely confused at his friend’s sudden outburst and reaction. “Phantom-”

“That's it!” Vlad shouted as he felt his ghost core pulse with energy at the mention of his name. “Phantom! That’s my ghost name!!”

Jack jumped off the couch and pumped his fists in the air. “Way to go Vladdie!!”

“It’s Phantom in this form, Jack.” Vlad said smugly, chest held high as he floated. 

Wait until he told Maddie about the incredible news!

……………………………….

Frostbite was not only a valuable source of knowledge about ghosts, but he was also an invaluable mentor, whom with his guidance, had discovered his greatest powers.

Vlad held a steady stance as he gathered his power in preparation to attack a designated target. Then, he shot forth a small icicle from his hand, unfortunately missing the bullseye. 

“Use the ice directly from your core Phantom. It’s the source of your greatest strength.” Frostbite called out to Vlad as he practiced his ice power.

Ice power… As if his green ghost energy was not odd enough.

Apparently, each ghost had a ‘ghost core’ inside their body. While a ghost core is not fully formed in the mindless blobs of ghosts, the more advanced ones had a fully formed orb located within their chest.

Ghost cores were similar to hearts, in that the core rotates and delegates energy and power to the ghost’s body, but also acted like battery packs, conserving and discharging energy. 

And Frostbite told him that truly powerful ghosts had an elemental type linked with their core. And his was ice.

According to the larger ghost, the cold Vlad always felt, that empowering frost deep within his chest was his ice ghost powers waiting to be activated. It's what caused him to be unable to feel the warmth of another person’s touch, or the heat of the summer. It also allowed him immunity to harsh cold winter as well.

But what Frostbite found odd, was that Vlad had acquired his elemental powers before even discovering his ‘specialty’. 

Unlike the elemental core which only developed in the most strongest of ghosts, each ghost had a specialty. A special power which defined how their ghost powers worked.

Frostbite’s specialty was the ability to control ice that did not belong to his ice core.

While a ghost that had an ice core could manipulate the ice and cold that came from their own personal core, they were unable to control outside ice, so Vlad would be unable to control a random iceberg, or ice from the fridge. But Frostbite could, because that was his speciality.

It was very easy to come up with the Box Ghost’s specialty, since not only is it part of his very name, but also obvious by all the crates the ghost had thrown at them.

Cetep… was a bit difficult to decipher what was his specialty. His name was most likely a symbol of the fact he is a ‘centipede-like’ ghost, so his name didn’t provide a clue into his specialty. The way the insect ghost fought also did not seem to provide a clue as to his specialty, at least, none that he, Maddie, or Jack could decipher.

There was a great weight to the wisdom that the large frost-ghost taught: *Know the specialty, and find the weakness*

But Cetep was not the only ghost they pondered about a specialty. Vlad himself seemed not to have a specialty as of yet.

They theorized that it might have something to do with him being just half-ghost. Maybe it would just take longer to find his specialty. Or maybe he did not even have one.

Following Frostbite’s prior advice, he focused his power from the coldest part of himself, his core. Then, he pulled the ice straight from the frozen orb and shot it through his hands, landing a hit on the target.

Vlad smiled, proud that his attack had hit his mark, though his mind was buzzing with a question he really needed his mentor to answer.

“Frostbite…”

“Yes Phantom?”

He ignored the small pleasant buzz in his core from the name, still not used to it. Raising his neon gaze up at the yeti-ghost, he met his gaze with a serious expression. “There is a detail I still do not fully understand. If ghost phenomena has existed for millennia, why is it that ghosts are wreaking so much havoc within the last 3 years than they have for centuries?”

“Because…” The giant ghost began softly meeting his gaze with one of equal seriousness. “The natural balance between our worlds is coming undone.”

Vlad’s expression became that of alarm. ‘Coming undone’ implied that the phenomenon was only going to get worse with time. “Why?! And why now?”

Frostbite lowered his tiny red eyes. Vlad saw a flash of unease crossing his canine-like features.

Vlad frowned as he waited patiently for his mentor to continue.

There was a moment of silence.

“There is... a young ghost whose power may be so great to rule the entire Ghost Zone…”

Vlad’s eyebrows rose in shock and partial disbelief. “The entire Ghost Zone!? Did you not say the relative size of the Ghost Zone is larger than that of the surface of the Earth??”

“...Yes…”

Vlad could hardly believe what the large ghost was telling him. Frostbite did not say that a ghost was trying to rule the Ghost Zone, but said may have the power to rule it.

The large white ghost continued as Vlad tried to understand the implications of just what he was saying. 

“It is rumored that it happened over five years ago. A ghost with unimaginable power was born, and began to take over various other territories, decimating all who stood in his way.”

“Are those stories real?”

Frostbite’s eyes clouded over, gaze distant. “I have seen the result for myself…”

A brief silence followed. Small red eyes continued to gaze forward in a blank stare.

“There was once the proud land of Avalon. Noble and just. They had a strong connection with the us frostlings for we share nearly the same morality of justice and respect…” He lowered his gaze, face tense and eyes filled with moisture of unshed tears. “When the rumor reached my ears, I had to see for myself. For I could not believe such a claim.”

Vlad watched as the yeti’s large claws clenched into tight fists, huge fur covered body tensing.

“It was a wasteland. There was… no one… left…”

Vlad placed a gentle hand on the large ghost. There was nothing he could say…

Frostbite’s tension eased, and he gazed upwards to look straight at Vlad with a stern gaze. “You would do well to stay away from the territories he has claimed.”

Suddenly he remembered Cetep’s words on the day they fought in the file room: *his majesty has declared this to be my territory…*

“He has recently claimed Amity as one of his territories.” Vlad voiced slowly, fear at what this could mean for the city starting to grip him.

Frostbite’s beady red eyes gazed at him with sympathy. “Then I suggest you find another location in this world to call your own. For you alone are no match for him.”

Vlad frowned, lifting his gaze to the leader of the Far Frozen. Neon green eyes glowed full of conviction and determination. “I will not abandon the people of this city, nor the people to this world to one who would do them harm.”

Frostbite gazed into those unyielding eyes for the longest moment. He could see fear in those eyes. This ghost had a general understanding that the choice he was making was very dangerous and could cost him dearly. But along with that understanding was the will to put the life of others before his own. Even if it could mean the end of his existence.

Phantom was no ignorant fool.

Frostbite’s gaze softened, canine like muzzle lifting in a slight smile. Proud that this ghost held the noble elemental ice core, and far from regretting the decision to train this young ghost. Phantom would indeed use his teachings to defend the innocent. He had chosen well. 

“Then young one, you must seek the resistance to aid you in your upcoming battles.” 

“Resistance?”

Frostbite nodded. “There is rumor of a hidden resistance in the Ghost Zone who are fighting back against the forced takeover. Unfortunately, I have neither come into contact with a member nor have I information as to their whereabouts.”

Vlad nodded. There was much to think about. 

 

This ghost sounded insanely powerful, to be able to decimate an entire population and have a ghost as powerful as Frostbite worried. But there was no way he could just stand by and let others suffer. 

Even ghosts.

He had believed all ghosts to be malicious beings bent on causing suffering for the living. It was all he had read about in all of the paranormal research conducted on ghosts, and he had believed it.

but he had been very wrong.

Having met Frostbite, he learned that there are kind ghosts out there. Ghosts actually willing to help others, instead of terrorizing them.

At this very moment, there were innocent ghosts being forced to serve a self-proclaimed ghost king, one with so much power that there was a need for a resistance in order to defy his rule. And to just leave them to their fate of destruction or servitude at the hands of an evil tyrant…

He would have to think more about this at a later time. Right now, he had to take as much advantage of the time he had with his ghost friend before they tested the portal for the first time tomorrow. For, if they succeeded in creating a portal into the Ghost Zone, Frostbite would be leaving to his home in the Far Frozen.

In the short time he got to know Frostbite, he had been an invaluable source of help and information, and a friend. Vlad was almost sad that the portal was going to be finished tomorrow.

But from what his friend said, he would have to seek the resistance, especially for the sake of Amity Park. To do that, he needed access to the Ghost Zone.

…………………………………………….

“129 degrees and holding!”

“Backup sensors also collaborate the readings.”

“Energy potential is at 40% and rising!”

Vlad gritted his teeth, anxiousness causing his hands on the keyboard to shake ever so slightly.

It was like deja-vu. 

Snippets of the memories he long since buried came flashing forth unbidden as the three prepared the activation of their second portal, causing him to hesitate as he stood in front of the computer screen.

What if it all happened again??

Unlike the first one, this one was larger. Amongst many problems with the first attempt at creating a portal, one of the major errors included included the relative size of the circumference of the event horizon. Because it was so small, it was not able to properly establish a connection to the other dimension with effective stability, causing the effect to backfire.

Another decent error was the energy input required to establish the tear between the two worlds. The energy input required was 10% more than they had previously calculated, part of the mistakes from their initial attempt they have fixed with the new portal.

But, more energy and larger frame made it all the more dangerous should something go terribly wrong.

And they were in the Fenton’s basement…

It was timed so the portal activation would occur when Jack’s parents were out of the house, so there was no possibility that they would be harmed. But, that did not make what they did have no consequences should something go wrong.

An explosion from a portal this large, carrying this much voltage, would cause great damage to the house. The structure of the building would become unstable, if it could even withstand such a blast.

They did their best to reinforce the basement of the house when they first transformed the basement into their personal lab, but let’s face it. They all knew that not only did they not have the financial sum necessary to create a proper lab, but neither did they have the expertise or the means to do so. Even if they did somehow have the funds, time, and expertise, it would require an entire demolition and reconstruction of the house itself. For to make it entirely secure, removing the weak foundations of an ordinary house to replace it with strong ones would be best.

Sweat lined Vlad’s brow as his pessimistic thoughts plagued him. 

The Fentons were always so kind to him. He would never forgive himself should he cause such a disaster to their home.

Glancing to his left, he saw Frostbite standing very close to Jack and Maddie as his two friends reevaluated readings and calculations. ‘Good…’

Unlike the last time they tried to open a portal to the Ghost Zone, this time they were more prepared. Should disaster strike, Frostbite was to turn Maddie and Jack intangible along with himself to protect them from getting hurt. Vlad was to try and reduce the damage from such an event and turn himself intangible should he need to.

“Power at 70%!”

At Jack’s announcement, he pushed aside all doubt and ignored the apprehension he felt. They had to do this. It was not feasible to make unlimited Fenton thermoses and only use that to capture the ghosts. They took too long to make, and they were unsure how long they could effectively keep a ghost within.

He gritted his teeth, remembering that the thermus holding Cetep was starting to move on occasion…

“All readings on my end are stable!” He announced over the whirring sound of the portal device beginning to sound loudly in the confines of the lab.

“Same here. Temperature is well within tolerable intensity.” Maddie replied as lights began to light up on the large circular device.

“Power now at 90 percent! Hold onto your pants everybody, cause this is happening!!” Jack shouted enthusiastically.

Vlad gave his friends one last glance, relieved to see that Frostbite placed his large clawed hands on Jack and Maddie’s back, ready to phase them both should the need arise.

Even through the whirring noise taking up the confined space of their lab, the sharp sound of the power reaching 100% rang through.

“Banzai!!!” Jacks shouted, pressing the button that would activate the portal.

Vlad’s body tensed, neon eyes staring apprehensively as the ring of the portal started catching bolts of electricity. The shocks flashing all over the circumference of the large ring.

All eyes were on the portal as they held their breath.

Suddenly, the empty space within the large ring began to glow green.

Vlad bit his bottom lip as his body began to shake.

That green… The same green that haunted his nightmares…

The whole room trembled, then the green glow took over the entire circumference within the portal. Then, the shaking ceased. Along with all other artificial noise.

They stared at the green swirls of the ghost portal. The effect not unlike standing water, sending a cold aura through the entire room.

And Vlad couldn’t help but feel drawn to it.

Slowly, as if in a trance, he took steps towards the ghost portal, half in amazement and half in fear.

His core pulsed with a strange sensation the closer he got. 

“Congratulations.” Frostbite’s cheery voice rang out. “You three have successfully created a portal to our realm.” With one of his massive paws he gestured to the green pooled mass. “Welcome to the Ghost Zone.”


	9. Chapter 9

 

Space was vast, no differentiation between up and down as green swirls danced against an expansive black background as far as the eye could see. In the distance, one could make out objects as they floated in vast emptiness that was the Ghost Zone. Various types of doors and rocks levitated in the air, and even further in the distance, you could see small rocks or even islands hovering far apart from each other, defying gravity with nothing in view that held them aloft.

 

Amidst this strange land, a lone figure flew across the expansive space with direction, knowing exactly where he was going and quite keen on getting there.

 

Metal teeth shined with the owner’s grin, the steel catching the array of ghostly light that encompassed the otherworldly dimension. Skulker’s rather large lair had come into view.

 

Instinct always drove a ghost, especially a very powerful one, to claim a territory they could call their own. Ghosts would often battle other ghosts over a particular island or lair to usurp the current  owner and claim the conquered territory as theirs. Until a new, more powerful ghost came along.

 

Many weaker ghosts, instead of claiming a whole island for themselves, chose instead to share ownership with other weaker ghosts and used their numbers to help maintain their collective possession of the land they claimed against invading ghosts who wished to take it away.

 

And if collective ownership was not an option, many more weaker ghosts found shelter within the territory of another, more powerful ghost who granted them access to a property deemed acceptable by the stronger ghost, in exchange for the weaker ghost’s service.

 

He far from needed such a pitiful means to acquire land. Not only was he a very powerful ghost in his own right, but his skill was unmatched and quite highly valued by many. 

 

He was a hunter. The greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone.

 

Ever since he had acquired his mechanical body, he had always had an island of his own. 

 

But this one.

 

This was the largest he had ever claimed in all of his otherworldly existence, and was the largest island in this quadrant of the Ghost Zone. 

 

The manor in the center was large, granted, but the island itself was easily 10 times larger in of itself. Surrounding the large house was a lush ghostly forest full of many trapped dangerous prey, just waiting to be captured when the mood struck him.

 

Yes. Skulker was living it up in the lap of luxury. He had access to unlimited prey, had many assignments of new prey to hunt, information to beat out of others who did not cooperate, access to the technology necessary to maintain maintenance on his battle suit. Everything he needed or wanted; entertainment, employment, territory, the fear and respect of other ghosts.

 

Many perks he had attained over the years from his continued loyalty, efficient completion of assignments, and rapid service to the ruler of the Ghost Zone.  

 

Even though he was now directly under another’s service, it had not been always so. 

 

Like many powerful ghosts, he used to be a loner. Years ago, he used to decide which of the many hunting jobs he would take and how long it would take him to do it. He could travel almost anywhere he pleased in their dimension. Hell, the whole Ghost Zone was his hunting grounds!

 

He could do almost anything, granted he stayed out of the way of more powerful ghosts. Do whatever he pleased. Never one to bend his will to another, never one to be told what to do.

 

But, he was not stupid.

 

It didn’t take an idiot to see the tide was changing. Being cunning, especially regarding the concept of domination of the strong over the weak as every hunter worth their salt should be, he quickly assessed the new threat that started taking root within the Ghost Zone. 

 

Not only had a new, powerful ghost appeared out of nowhere, but it was starting to take the zone by storm.

 

In the span of a mere year, this enigmatic ghost had taken over two powerful empires in the Ghost Zone, ending centuries long strife between the two kingdoms and uniting them under his rule.

 

How could one ghost take over two powerful empires had been beyond him.

 

And this intrigued him greatly. Especially as rumors about this new ghost circulated the Ghost Zone like wildfire.

 

So, once he saw the job offer for the annihilation of said ghost, he had not hesitated to take up the job. This could easily be one of his greatest hunts. A recently fully formed ghost with incredible power… His ectoblood had boiled at the thought. 

 

Of course, the insane amount of reward for the killing of said ghost was a huge incentive as well.

 

He had met with an intermediary for the clients, as the ones who would ultimately pay wished to remain anonymous. It had not been anything out of the ordinary. Ghosts who wished the capture or death of other, more powerful ghosts used anonymity as protection should there be any fallout. They could easily claim innocence.

 

Though there was something odd about these enigmatic clients. The intermediary had brought so much equipment they wanted to give him to make his job easier, saying that many of these are necessary when dealing with that particular prey. The idiot even began to tell him  _ how _ to capture the target.

 

He had not let the fool finish his first sentence. No one,  _ No One _ , told him how to capture his prey. 

 

Normally, he would have taken the free upgrades and gadgets, but his pride did not allow it. The only reason they were giving him all of this was because they believed him incapable of capturing this newly formed ghost, and that had infuriated him. So he had rejected the new equipment, and the advice, stating that he would catch the prey his own way. 

 

The intermediary tried to insist, but he had easily ended the conversation by leaving.

 

Unfortunately for him, his search took a much longer time than anything he had hunted before.

 

The disappearance and reappearance of the powerful ghost was a significant mystery at the time. It was if he could just vanish without a trace and reappear just as easily. The ghost had a lair, that he easily enough found, but it was as if he did not habit there. In fact, there was nowhere in the Ghost Zone that the new ghost seemed to rest in. No one knew were his prey disappeared to and it frustrated him to no end that even though he was the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone, even he couldn't track the bastard down.

 

He had the client’s intermediary contact. At any time he could get ahold of him and request the offered gadgets and advice he had refused, but that would mean admitting that he could not complete the task with his own abilities. Admitting that his prey got the better of him, him! The greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone! It would be admitting defeat.

 

And he would never admit defeat.

 

Or so  he had thought at the time.

 

Skulker’s body trembled slightly. A rare shiver running through his small form inside the metal suit. Fear sweeping through him for a brief moment, as he recalled a decision that had been the difference between existence and total annihilation.

 

After long searching, obsession making him push back everything else in favor of locating this elusive prey, he had finally come across the new being he sought so feverishly.

 

And his internal sensors went haywire.

 

All of his scanning and assessing equipment had begun to bounce off power readings over the chart! Giving off numbers for power and strength that was completely impossible for a normal single ghost, let alone a  _ newly formed _ ghost.

 

Not only was the power readings a large red flag, but the sensors picked up way too many anomalies. There were miniscule amounts of unknown material all over the ghost’s form, both inside and out. The readings indicated that the being was a ghost, but there were many things that just weren’t adding up.

 

He had watched as the young ghost stood still, staring into the depths of the Ghost Zone seeming to be deep in thought. As he sat there avoiding his prey’s detection, he had begun to decide his next course of action, when his sensors detected movement behind him.

 

He had turned around swiftly, only to be caught by the piercing fiery red gaze of his prey right in his face.

 

Flying slightly backwards, he turned slightly to look at the other one, who was now gazing at him with menace.

 

Looking back to the one that had startled him, he noticed in his readings that this one seemed stronger. To make matters even more strange, his readings indicated they both were the same being. 

 

He remembered clearly the first words he heard it speak, voice in a cold, calculated tone. “I will give you the same option as I gave the others who wished to terminate me. Either you serve me, or your existence will cease immediately.”

 

It was the first time one of his prey actually instilled genuine fear within his core.

 

His pride had battled against his instinct for preservation. This ghost was not like any other, and everything in him was screaming that his very existence would be wiped should he even try. Being a hunter, he understood and respected the law of the hierarchy of power. The stronger ruled over the weak. Powerful ghosts had every right to hunt or control those weaker than them. A policy he had fully agreed with his entire existence.

 

But he had not believed he would become the weak one to a more powerful ghost, being such an alpha as he was.

 

After much internal struggle, he had grudgingly lowered his head in submission, regardless of how humiliating it was for him.

 

Him!

 

The greatest hunter of the Ghost Zone bowing down to another!

 

But, he did.

 

And he never regretted the decision. Even to this day.

 

Especially after he had witnessed the true power this being possessed, both in abilities and in increasing domination over others.

 

A sudden beeping noise brought the hunter out of his musings. It was a perimeter alarm. One of many security systems in place in case someone was stupid enough to try and enter his domain.

 

A smirk crossed his metallic face.

 

It had been a long time since anybody was insane enough to try.

 

Nearly all of the Ghost Zone knew that he not only worked for the king of the Ghost Zone, 

 

But that he was the king’s personal liaison.

 

He, Skulker the greatest hunter of the Ghost Zone, was the king’s most trusted ghost. Most loyal subject.

 

Anyone would be out of their mind to mess in his territory.

 

“Well. Let’s see who’s pelt will line my couch tonight.” He said to himself. Voice full of glee and malice.

 

He was disappointed to note that the intruder did not even reach past the outer lines of his territory. He had hopped for a better challenge...

 

Landing in front of the trap, he was greeted by a surprising sight. 

 

_ ‘Cetep??’ _

 

The insect ghost that had been tasked with a territory in the human world by the name of Amity Park was now currently twisted around itself inside of his metal cage traps. Shaking in fear.

 

Cetep had been sent to investigate the University of Amity, gathering all data regarding their progress of the study of ghosts as well as learn what valuable inventions the University had accomplished in their 4 years of paranormal study.

 

But the ghost was late with his last progress report, which was due 3 days ago.

 

No one was ever late with progress reports unless there was a miraculous explanation for it.

 

Though, he had to admit, somehow ending up in the Ghost Zone without access to the master’s portal was quite a feat…

 

But,

 

It wasn’t him who needed convincing...

 

His small green form could see clearly through the internal monitor of his suit that the bug ghost was terrified out of his mind.

 

And, boy, he couldn’t blame him one bit.

 

He stepped closer to the cage, his shadow falling over the frightened ghost.

 

And unlocked the cage door.

 

Normally, he would have ripped out the bars of the cage as a show of strength and frighten his captured prey further.

 

But this ghost was terrified enough, and why not give the poor bastard a little (very little) compassion.

 

Cetep would have plenty of torture waiting for him if he could not convince the king that his fuck up was considered a miraculous circumstance…

 

At the very least, the bug had to have come here in a pitiful attempt to get into contact with the master.

 

Everyone knows it would have been worse if he had tried to flee.

 

Although, that would have been at least a little entertaining. Having to hunt him down.

 

Without a word, he grabbed the back of Cetep’s hide and lifted him into the air. 

 

Turning back from where he came, he flew in the direction of the master’s portal with the poor bastard in tow.

 

No words were exchanged between the two the whole flight.

 

……………………………………….

 

Cetep’s long, centipede-like form began to shake as they approached the swirling green circle that hovered in the air.

 

The portal to the human world.

 

And a step closer to his nightmare.

 

Genuine fear gripped his ghost-core as he was dragged upwards, passing invisibly up through the floors of the building. Dread filled every inch of his translucent body as his pincers began to chatter in anxiety.

 

The metallic hand that held a piece of him tightly was all but ignored. The pain of the pressure nearly non-existent as something worse had his mind in a vice, demanding all conscious attention.

 

He was going to be killed…

 

There were no two ways around it. 

 

He had failed. Failed miserably.

 

And no one. NO ONE, failed without extreme punishment…

 

His cold throat constricted and he gulped. Counting the floors as they rose.

 

20...21...22..23…

 

Time seemed to slow down, as if reveling in the dreaded atmosphere that oozed off of his hunched, coiled body like a lamp.

 

He barely could make out the noise made by the oblivious humans as they climbed the floors undetected. He was way too busy hearing the pulsing in his chest of his ghost-core as they ascended.

 

The pulsing only intensified as they approached their destination.

 

63… 64… 65…

 

… 66.

 

Large mahogany doors filled his vision as Skulker held him aloft, still intangible. 

 

All too soon, he felt the small pulse of heat coming from the other side of the doors. A silent command to enter.

 

Cetep’s, long spindly body coiled more into itself as Skulker dragged his shaking form, phasing them both through the large doors that separated them from what was inside.

 

It was dark. Dark even for ghostly night vision.

 

The room freezing cold, even to the cold blood of a ghost.

 

Eerie silence filled the room. The sound of Skulker’s boots touching the ground from flight echoed through loudly, startling him.

 

But he kept his green gaze forward. Unable to blink. Unable to move.

 

  
  


There, sitting behind a dark desk before them, was the one who would decide his fate.

 

If he existed or was terminated.

 

The ominous figure stared straight at him in the darkness, blue eyes piercing his very soul as the silence in the dark room loomed. Not a word said.

 

He wanted to scream. To cry. To beg for mercy.

 

To explain how he had failed, that it wasn’t his fault! That it was the fault of that Ghost-guy and his sidekicks! They should be punished, not him!

 

But he knew better.

 

NO ONE talked before the master.

 

Unless given prior permission. And that honor was reserved for VERY few ghosts. Rumor had it, only 3 had such an honor…

 

The silent oppression in the room seemed to stretch on forever. 

 

He dared not make a sound himself.

 

Remaining still as a statue, all he could do was plead with his big green eyes. To express how sorry he was that he had failed. To be given another chance. That he would never fail at a task ever again.

 

Then…

  
  


  
  


The darkness was illuminated slightly by piercing, haunting blood-red eyes.  

 

He gasped in fear, body shaking uncontrollably. 

 

His useless lungs were striving for the air he did not need. His ghostly blood traveling fast through his form that he feared he might burst.

 

Perhaps, wished he would burst… Then he would be saved from whatever horror awaited him due to his failure…

 

As if the cold red eyes was a silent cue, Skulker spoke confidently and without worry.

 

It was not his neck that was on the line…

 

“I found this mite in one of my island’s traps.”

 

To the poor Cetep’s horror, those red eyes narrowed dangerously.

 

_ ‘Nooo!!! You're explaining it wrong you tin can!!!! You should have said I went there like a good little minion to try and come back! To show I wasn’t hiding and this isn’t my FAULT!!!’ _

 

Oh, did he want to scream in his defense.

 

But again, he knew better. He would have been doomed if he did.

 

The oppressing silence returned with a vengeance, highlighted with that intense blood-red stare.

 

In what seemed like an eternity, the owner of those frightening red eyes finally spoke.

 

“Interesting.”

 

The voice was pensive, had a sort of high pitch to it, like the sound of a teen boy who had yet to hit full puberty.

 

A voice you would never have thought to have come from someone so dangerous. From someone who would wish to do you harm.

 

That assumption would cost you your existence.

 

“Perhaps I overestimated your value, Cetep…”

 

God, he wanted to highlight his strengths, to get back into the master’s favor with everything he has done and can still do…

 

But, not only do you not speak before the king, but you did NOT speak unless spoken to.

 

And if you were in deep shit, you did not speak unless asked a direct question.

 

And that was not a question... 

 

His eyes widened even more as he heard the gentle tapping of fingers on a desk, as the figure in the shadows shifted his sitting position.

 

“How, prey tell, did you end up in the Ghost Zone without the use of my portal?”

 

The voice was conversational, lightly even.

 

But he knew better. 

 

He was standing on the edge of annihilation. One wrong move and it was over.

 

And the fact that the voice could easily sound so nonchalant? 

 

That made it all the more frightening.

 

He stammered quickly to answer the question. “I-I am not sure!”

 

He flinched as those blood-red eyes narrowed dangerously once again, quickly trying to amend his lame answer.

 

“I-I-I was-was trapp-ped! In s-some kind of c-container!”

 

The red eyes took their normal form, appearing to now be slightly intrigued. He felt slightly relieved at the sight, giving him courage to continue.

 

“T-This ghost! He and his sidekick humans trapped me there! N-Next thing I knew, I was back in the G-Ghost Zone!”

 

There was silence once more.

 

Those eyes staring him down. Unflinching, unblinking red cold eyes.

 

His nerves were on the fray.

 

This was it.

 

Form shaking, he pleaded with his large green eyes for mercy once more.

 

Then,

 

Those frightening eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

 

Then blinked.

 

The owner of those death eyes shifted his seating position again, leaning his chin on his hands casually. “You are to report every detail about your capture and encounter with your captors.”

 

The red eyes then narrowed. “Complete the detailed report in two hours. You will receive further instructions about your new assingments.”

 

Blood-red eyes narrowed further, a dangerous glint in those bright orbs. It even felt as if heat emanated from that very gaze. “Fail me again…”

 

There was no need for him to finish. The untold threat was well clear and understood.

 

In a flash, Cetep bowed to the floor, beak unashamedly touched the ground as he felt relief wash over him like a titlewave. 

 

He was going to continue to exist!

 

He was shown mercy!!

 

He stayed in that submissive position, even as the time ticked on the limited two hours he had to make the best, most thorough report he had ever made in his entire existence.

 

Because NO one left until they were dismissed.

 

Skulker’s voice rang out. “You are dismissed, mite.”

 

And he disappeared from the room faster than he had ever moved before.

 

……………………………….

 

The report was delivered with five minutes to spare.

 

In the dark room, white papers were held aloft by a small hand, the other one resting atop of the black desk, fingers tapping absentmindedly as light blue eyes scanned the held document.

 

Apparently, there was a young, unidentified ghost in the State of Colorado who can modify ecto-energy into useful objects, such as shields. 

 

But more importantly,

 

The humans who appeared to assist the ghost in capturing Cetep had devices that exceeded what he last knew of AXIOM, the corporation that sponsored Amity University’s paranormal research. And somehow, not only did they have the ability to contain ghosts, but they apparently had access to the Ghost Zone.

 

Unfortunately, due to the failure of his minion in retrieving current documentation, his knowledge of AXIOM Corp was a year behind. And even then, the technology then was nowhere near what the Master’s Corporation could do, much less seemed to head to where they seem to be now. Whether that advancement came forth thanks to the assistance (or slavery) of the young ghost was yet to be determined.

 

Now more than ever, it was crucial for him to discover what technology and knowledge the paranormal department in Amity University has discovered.

 

Intense red took over blue, lips pulling into a wide grin. Fangs glinting in the fiery light of the blood-red gaze. 

 

“Interesting…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
> End of the First Part of The World of Vlad Phantom and Dan Plasmius. ^ ^
> 
> (Chapter 10 will just be letting yall know when the new part of the series is up)
> 
> Yay!! We’ve seen Danny (or Dan/Daniel, as he will mostly be referred to in this fic) for the first time! :D
> 
> Hope yall enjoyed the first part, and I’ve already have scenes sketched out for the direction I am heading for the second part! ^ ^  
> Let me know what yall thought about this first part of the series. I take feedback into consideration as I write/draw.  
> Super amazing thanks to all who took the time to comment on my fic. Special love and thanks goes to Katvara, who has been commenting on every single chapter! ^ ^ 
> 
> Katvara, as thanks I want to make a Danny Phantom pic just for you! (commission I think it’s refered to?) I will message you and ask you what you would like me to draw and I will post it in the beginning of the second part of the series! Thank you oh so much for your sweet comments! ^ ^


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